The Colorado College volleyball team rebounded from a frustrating first day of the 2023 Pikes Peak Challenge to win a pair of matches on Saturday at Reid Arena.
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In the final match on Saturday, the Tigers roared back from a two sets to one deficit and defeat Hardin Simmons University in a thrilling five-setter, 21-25, 26-24, 23-25, 25-15, 17-15, to even their season record at 2-2.
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Junior
Keeley Kandziora led the way with a season-high 21 kills and a .318 hitting percentage against the Cowgirls. Freshman
Brooke Brilliant followed with a career-high 16 kills, while fellow first-year player
Coco Barton had six kills with no errors for a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage. Brilliant was just that in the fourth game with six kills and just two errors as the Tigers won the set by 10 points.
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Junior setter
Annie Steger collected a career-high 34 assists and nine digs, while freshman libero
Meghan Gannon led all players with a career-best 26 digs.
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In the first match of the day, sophomore
Carolyn Dormady and Kandziora led the way in the a 26-24, 25-22, 25-17 sweep over Wartburg College. Dormady posted 14 kills and a hitting percentage of .276, while Kandziora had 11 kills and hit .348.
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Senior
Jenny Jenks and Steger dished out 14 and 11 assists, respectively, while Gannon collected 11 digs.
"This was a good weekend for us," head coach
Sharon Dingman said. "We got better every match. We saw our depth play an important role. We won the team game today. Everyone on the team contributed to our wins today."
The Tigers (2-2) return to action next weekend at the East/West Challenge in Claremont, Calif. CC will face three ranked teams, starting with18th-ranked Tufts on Friday, Sept. 8, followed by ninth-ranked Johns Hopkins and 13
th-ranked Emory on Saturday, Sept. 9.
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2023 Pikes Peak Challenge All-Tournament Team
Colorado College (2-2) - Brooke Brilliant, Keeley Kandziora
Augustana (3-0) - Emily Schipper, Grace Vranicar
UW-Platteville (2-1) - Emma Carlson, Sam Rossetti
Hardin-Simmons (1-3) - Jadyn Hernandez
Wartburg (1-3) - Norah Erickson
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