Blue Tops Gold in Volleyball Scrimmage

Aug. 20, 2005

GREELEY, Colo. - The University of Northern Colorado volleyball team hosted its Blue & Gold Scrimmage on Saturday night at Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion and the blue team came out on top winning all five sets, 30-21, 30-21, 30-16, 30-20 and 15-10. Each Courtney Bourret (gold), Dulcie Stone (blue & gold) and Lizzy Rhoads (gold) had 13 kills to lead all players.

"I was pleased with our rhythm for it being our first time competing this fall," first-year head coach Lyndsey Benson said. "What I wasn't pleased with were our serve errors and errors on serve/receive because we worked on that in practice.

"I thought Corrinne (Chapin) ran a good offense on the blue team and Lauren (Carter) ran the gold team's offense well. Lizzy (Rhoads) showed she could score consistently and while our other hitters were able to score at certain times, Lizzy showed she may be our go-to person this season.

"I thought Jenny Kawakami was a highlight tonight as well; the effort we got from her is the effort we need from all 16 players every night. And Courtney (Bourret) scored as well as anyone tonight and she is earning herself a chance to be in the starting lineup at some point."

The night gave all 16 Northern Colorado players a chance to see lots of action and several newcomers made an impact. Freshman Liz Franz added nine kills for the blue team as well as a match-high five service aces. Redshirt freshman Lenay Goble added 11 kills for the gold team.

The Bears get their season underway for real this coming weekend when they travel to Omaha, Neb. to compete in the Bluejay Invitational hosted by Creighton. UNC matches up with Creighton on Friday (4 p.m.) and Iowa State on Saturday (11 a.m.). Live stats for each match will be available through links at UNCBears.com.