Box Score The No. 1-ranked Colorado College volleyball advanced to the championship match of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament with a thrilling 25-19, 25-23, 19-25, 25-27, 15-8 victory over Texas Lutheran University on Friday afternoon.
 
CC improved to 30-1 and will face Trinity University for the SCAC title on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. CT. Trinity earned its spot in the championship match with a 25-23, 17-25, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12 win over Southwestern University.
 
Just as they have done in their previous four matches that went the distance, Colorado College came through in the clutch with the match on the line. This time, however, there was much more at stake.
 
The Tigers set the tone early in the frame when it utilized three kills from junior right side hitter Aria Dudley to grab a 4-1 lead and force the Bulldogs to spend a time out. After TLU's Cailey Young struck for a kill, CC answered with points from Dudley and sophomore outside hitter Haley Harris to build a 6-2 margin.
 
Following a kill by sophomore outside hitter Makenzie Griffin, Colorado College used a 5-3 surge to take a five-point lead at 11-6. The Bulldogs closed to within three points after a Griffin kill, but CC scored the final four points and put the match away on a kill by senior middle hitter Glenna Yancey.
 
In the fifth set, Dudley, Harris and Yancey combined for nine kills on 12 attacks without an error.
 
The Tigers also were red-hot during the first set, hitting a blistering .452 as a team. Mullen put down seven of her career-high 25 kills in the opening frame when it appeared Colorado College would have no trouble reaching the 30-win mark for the fourth time in the last five seasons and the seventh time overall during head coach Rick Swan's 30-year tenure.
 
Texas Lutheran showed they would be a force to be reckoned with in the second set, leading by as much as six points early in the frame. CC leveled the count at 19-19, but the Bulldogs scored four of the next five points to take 23-20 lead. After a kill by Mullen, the Tigers took advantage of a service ace by sophomore setter Lizzy Counts and forced TLU into three errors to cap a dramatic comeback.
 
Despite trailing for most of the third set, the Bulldogs utilized six kills and a key block from Griffin to extend the match.
 
In the fourth set, Texas Lutheran survived a pair of match points before it got a kill from sophomore outside hitter Bryten Mitchan and a pair by freshman outside hitter Hannah Mikelonis to even the count at two sets apiece.
 
In addition to her match-high 25 kills, Mullen completed her second double-double of the year with 13 digs.
 
Not to be outdone, Harris produced her sixth double-double with a season-high 16 kills and 19 digs.
 
Dudley led the Tigers with a match-high .457 hitting percentage, putting down 17 kills on 35 swings with only one error.
 
Counts dished out a career-best 63 assists and became the sixth player in program history to record more than 1,000 in a year. She finished the match with 1,035, which ranks eighth on CC's single-season list.
 
Sophomore libero Anna Gurolnick led the Colorado College defense with 27 digs, her sixth match of the season with 20 or more.
 
Griffin recorded a team-best 20 kills for TLU, while Mitchan added 14.
 
Sophomore setter Jaci Chambers produced a match-high 28 digs for Texas Lutheran.