THE LEAD
With eight games already under the Lady Patriots belt, DBU was eager to finally host a game in familiar territory at home this season. The Lady Patriot's opened their home court with a doubleheader that led off with a game against a challenging Colorado Christian team. DBU came into the match with a lot of energy but the Lady Patriots ended up getting outlasted by CCU in three sets. Senior captains for DBU, Hannah Ballew and Carly Hess played their last first home game at the Burg Center. Their leadership, poise and heart are valuable assets for DBU on and off the court.
 
A few of the Lady Patriot stat leaders for match were, Strealy Sizelove, who is now stranger to lead the team with assists with 28 more this afternoon. Sidnee Jo Fitzpatrick put together a nice match with a team leading 10 powerful kills and 2 blocks. Hannah Ballew and Laruen Nicks led both teams in digs with 15 apiece.
 
Colorado Christian made a statement in the first set proving that they came to play. While DBU worked through some home crowd jitters, they were never able to find the kind of rhythm needed to get back into this set. CCU eventually ran away with the 25-15 win.
 
The Lady Patriots started the second set off hot as they looked much more settled into playing their game. The set began with three straight points off the serves of Freshman Strealy Sizelove. This set did not have a lot of traded points, rather each team traded off on their own runs. With a 20-17 Colorado Christian led, DBU kicked it into gear and reclaimed the lead with five consecutive points to make the score 20-22. Unfortunately for the Lady Patriots, this streak was followed by CCU's 5-0 run of their own resulting in another Colorado Christian set victory.
 
Colorado Christian began set three with two quick four-point runs. This gave CCU a 10-5 early lead. The game turned around quickly with Hannah Ballew at the helm serving. DBU put together an amazing seven-point run that surged them to a 12-13 lead.  However, Colorado Christian orchestrated two late 4-0 runs against the Lady Patriots, which gave CCU the set and match victory with a 25-21 score.
 
COACH'S QUOTE
When asked about taking what DBU learned in this game and applying it to the next game of the doubleheader, Coach Kokel said, "our next opponent (TAMCU) has a strong right side just like Colorado Christian, so I believe we can come into our next game with sense of confidence knowing what it's like to see that kind of talent coming at us. We are very strong defensively, which has carried us to our two wins this season and we hope we can lean on that for this upcoming game."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
.096 – Hitting percentage recorded by DBU
66 – Digs by DBU compared to CCU's 61
12 – Blocks by CCU over DBU's 2
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Lady Patriots finish off their doubleheader against TAMCU at 6 PM in the Burg Center.