Durango, Colo.,   The Mountaineers vanquish Skyhawks on the road.

JUST THE FACTS
Final Score: Western Colorado def. Fort Lewis College 3-1 (27-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21)
Records: Western Colorado 6-11 overall (3-3 RMAC) | Fort Lewis College 6-1 overall (2-5 RMAC).
Location: Fort Lewis College | Durango, Colo. Whalen Gymnasium

HOW IT HAPPENED

• An intense, back and forth, match began with Fort Lewis earning a 2-0 lead. Kills from seniors Seyun Park and Kennedy Kelly tied the score 2-2. A few scores exchanged but WCU went on a small run, going up 11-7. FLC, persistent, came back to tie the score at 13-a-piece. During the remainder of the match there were multiple lead changes and twelve more ties. The set seeing, the final tie, 25-25; the Mountaineers put away two in a row to defeat the Skyhawks in set one 27-25.  
• Another nail bitter, this time WCU jumped out to an early 4-0 advantage. The battle continued, Fort Lewis and Western Colorado individually increased their total until a tie a 10-10. Senior Nur Turkmenoglu with two service aces and Kelly with a kill upped the Mountaineers to a 13-10 lead. The Mountaineers held the lead until the Skyhawks came back grasping forefront 21-20. The next few points were traded 23-23 but FLC was able to put away two in a row to make it a 1-1 match.
• An important third set, Turkmenoglu secured the first point off a service ace. The competition was heated as points were traded back and forth the duration of the set. WCU kept the lead until FLC took over 13-9. The Mountaineers fired back regaining their edge 19-18. WCU kept the momentum resulting in a 25-23 set. Putting the match score at 2-1.
• The war continued as each team pounded the ball one after the other. FLC took a 11-7 lead over the Mountaineers, but a small run put WCU back on top 14-13. Western won the 16-16 tie off a kill by junior Pelin Aksoy 17-16. From there, the Mountaineers floored it and defeated the Skyhawks 25-21.

 
NET NOTES

• Aksoy paved the way on offense with 16 kills followed by Kelly with 11, Park with nine and junior Olive Rolseth with eight.
• Turkmenoglu set up her teammates earning 40 assists. She also contributed two service aces, six digs, three blocks assists and six kills.
• Sophomore Chinaru Inoue lead the defense with 17 digs. Also contributing to the defense were sophomore Kacee Garcia with eight digs and Park with five total blocks.

UP NEXT
Mountaineer Volleyball will travel to Las Vegas, N.M., to compete against New Mexico Highlands on Saturday, October 19 at 3 PM MT for an RMAC match-up.

For more information visit gomountaineers.com.