Volleyball | 11/12/2015 10:01:00 PM

Box Score PUEBLO, Colo. – Western State Colorado University women's volleyball team fell to a rallying CSU-Pueblo team in four sets (18-25, 25-21, 19-25, 22-25) Thursday evening in Pueblo. The Mountaineers will compete in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament Tuesday for the first time in a dozen years.
 
Libero Amanda Maestas came into the match with 477 digs this season. She need just 11 to tie the Mountaineer single season record set in 1995 by Tanya Clark. Maestas dished out 12 passes to take the record in the final regular season match.
 
The Mountaineers came out slow in the first set, going down by as much as 10 points, but came back to make it a three point set at 17-20. After dropping the first set Western State took control early, going up 9-4 and not looking back with a 25-21 victory. Taylor Castillo paved the way early with nine kills in the first two sets, hitting .462 before the break. Defensively Molly Hothan put back six Thunderwolves attacks in the first two sets.
 
Following the break, Western State battled back and forth with CSU-Pueblo, but came up short. The Mountaineers were held to just four kills in the set. In the fourth set the teams went after it, trading leads until a tie at 22 points apiece. The Thunderwolves scored the next three points to take the match.
 
Tori Gaherty led the team with 13 kills, while Castillo finished the night with 11. Setter Allison Walker dished out 35 assists.
 
Defensively, Hothan led the night with seven blocks. Gaherty was all over the floor with 10 digs and three blocks.
 
With the loss, the Mountaineers need MSU-Denver to defeat UCCS to keep the sixth position in the tournament. With the win, the CSU-Pueblo needs Colorado Mines to defeat Colorado Christian to get the eighth seed in the tournament.