The UCCS women’s volleyball team is currently in prime position to host the RMAC postseason tournament. The Mountain Lions stand fourth in the conference, with a one match lead over Metro State and Western New Mexico, and a game-and-a-half lead against Colorado Christian.
The top four teams in the RMAC will host a first round playoff match Nov. 13. The final two matches UCCS has with Colorado Mines and Colorado Christian this weekend will decide where the Mountain Lions are seeded going into the postseason. The simplest way UCCS could stay in fourth place, guaranteeing a home playoff match in the first round, is to win both matches this weekend. If UCCS wins both matches, it will finish in fourth place, with no possibility of another team surpassing them.
However, should the Mountain Lions lose one or both of their upcoming matches, there are a host of difference scenarios that would still allow the Mountain Lions to finish with that fourth place standing.
If UCCS loses one match this weekend to either Colorado Mines or to Colorado Christian, then UCCS would need Metro State to lose at least one of its matches this weekend against Black Hills State and Chadron State, otherwise UCCS would finish with the same record as Metro. If UCCS finishes the season in a tie with Metro State, the Roadrunners hold the tiebreaker because of the head-to-head record. If however, Metro State loses one of its matches this weekend and UCCS loses one match this weekend, the Mountain Lions would maintain that one match advantage against Metro and would secure the fourth seed.
If the Mountain Lions lose to Colorado Christian and win against Colorado Mines, UCCS would finish with the same record as Colorado Christian. Because in this scenario both teams would have split their regular season meetings (UCCS won 3-1 earlier this season), the tiebreaker would go the sets record in those matches. For the Cougars to hold the tiebreaker, they would need to sweep the Mountain Lions. If it’s a 3-1 match, the next tiebreaker would be to the win-loss record in all sets throughout the conference season, and UCCS holds the advantage against the Cougars. It it’s a 3-2 match, the Mountain Lions again hold the tiebreaker because of an overall sets record of 5-4 against Colorado Christian.
UCCS could lose both of their matches this weekend and still hold on to the coveted fourth place position, but it would need Metro State to also lose both of its matches; otherwise Metro State would jump ahead of UCCS in the standings or hold the tiebreaker if the Roadunners went 1-1. If UCCS loses both match, it would also be dependent upon Western New Mexico losing at least one of its matches this weekend. The two teams can still tie in the standings if UCCS goes 0-2 and WNMU goes 1-1, but because the Mountain Lions defeated the Mustangs in the only meeting between the teams this season, UCCS holds the tiebreaker. If Western New Mexico goes 2-0 and UCCS goes 0-2, the Mustangs would jump the Mountain Lions in the standings.
— M.J. Arjomandi, UCCS Sports Information
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