GREELEY, Colo. — In dominant fashion, the Colgate Raiders volleyball team captured its first win and clean sweep, 3–0, against University of Northern Colorado. It was a game based upon consistency, and Colgate outperformed its opponent in all aspects.
The offense was led by Milan Bayless and Tiana Owens combining for 24 kills, while Lal Akin put the clamps on defense with one solo block and four block assists.
COACH BAKER'S COMMENTS
"This was a tremendous response to last night. We were disciplined and fought from start to finish. I have a great deal of respect for Northern Colorado. They are consistently winning their conference and are well coached and very disciplined. They made sure nothing came easy."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1
- Colgate opened the game off a service ace from Julia Oster to take the 1–0 advantage.
- Northern Colorado matched the point, followed by the Raiders' four-point outburst. Off two kills, an attacking error, and a service ace, Colgate had an early 5–1 lead.
- The two teams traded points before the Raiders added five more points to push the lead to 14–8.
- The Bears earned a point followed by the Raiders attacking to earn two more points to take a seven point lead, 16–9.
- A couple points were traded before the Bears had a four-point stretch to close the gap 17–14.
- The Raiders closed out set one earning eight points from the 11 serves remaining. Bayless helped close out set one with two kills for the Raiders to win their first set of the 2025 season, 25–17.
Set 2
- Showing no signs of letting up, Colgate exploded into a 9–2 advantage.
- Within that span, Torres, Bayless, and Akin all recorded a kill as those three players, with the addition of Maddie Rudolph, clocked three back-to-back-to-back blocks for the Raiders.
- The Bears earned a quick three points to cut the gap 9–5.
- In a small stretch, for every point Northern Colorado earned, Colgate countered with two points themselves to double their lead, 14–7.
- The Bears, clawing at the gap, earned five points to cut the Raiders' lead by three, 16–13.
- Bayless earned three critical points for the Raiders in set two off of two kills and one service ace to take a 22–16 lead.
- Northern Colorado pushed for three more points but it was not enough as Colgate closed out set two from two Bears' errors and Owens' kill for a 25–19 victory.
Set 3
- The Bears found some fire as there were eight lead changes through 18 serves.
- Northern Colorado had the lead up until Owens' kill to give Colgate the 5–4 lead.
- Keeping the game in close contention, the Bears tied the match 5–5 followed by kills from Bayless and Torres to reclaim the 7–5 lead.
- The Bears went on a three point run but the Raiders had the response with kills from Bayless and Owens.
- High stakes on the line for Northern Colorado being two sets behind, caught up and tied the match at 15 all.
- Owens stepped up with two crucial kills to take a 17–15 lead but Northern Colorado answered with two kills themselves.
- The game tied at 17 apiece, Colgate went on an eight-point run to close out set three and capture their first regular season win.
- The stretch saw four different players earn at least one kill, totaling six overall, along with two Northern Colorado attacking errors to take set three 25–17 and sweep the Bears.
GAME NOTES
- Bayless led the team in kills with 13, and trailing closely was Owens with 11.
- Deren Cukur notched 25 assists, one shy of matching her career-best. Defensively, Cukur led the team in digs notching 14.
- Akin, Rudolph, and Torres all came up big in the blocking department, logging one solo block each and a combined seven block assists.
UP NEXT
Colgate will conclude their Colorado stretch in Greeley, Colo., playing back at the Bank of Colorado Arena. In a neutral game, Colgate will be identified as the host against Washington on Sunday, August 31 at 1 p.m. EST.
