Oct. 29, 2011 - For the Concordia-Chicago volleyball team, the "Halloween Classic" was an aptly-named tournament in which they found themselves this past weekend. The Cougars suffered the terrors of an 0-4 weekend including two matches against nationally-ranked teams in the two-day tournament hosted by Washington University of St. Louis.
The Cougars' first match came against Hanover College of Indiana who entered the weekend with an 18-8 record. A slow start proved costly against the Panthers and, although the Cougars rallied, they lost in three sets (11-25, 21-25, 22-25). Claire Mackey (Shelton, NE/Heartland Lutheran) led the Cougars with five kills.
Friday's late afternoon match came against the host school, ranked third in the NCAA Division III with a 25-1 record. The Bears hit over .400 in each of the first two sets, and they swept the Cougars by scores of 25-13, 25-11, 25-15.
Saturday morning, Concordia met Eastern University of Pennsylvania, currently fourth in the nation rankings. Bianca Gordon (Milwaukee, WI/Milwaukee Lutheran) provided the Cougars with some strong hitting - eight kills and a .429 attack - but Eastern hit .486 in the first set and used the momentum to roll to a 25-15, 25-14, 25-17 win.
The final match of the weekend came against the College of Mount St. Joseph from Cincinnati, Ohio. Concordia got off to a good start, winning the first set 25-20. They continued to lead for much of the next two sets, but the Lions came out on top by 26-24 and 25-21 scores. The lost momentum caused a letdown in set four as Mount St. Joseph rolled to a 25-9 victory and a 3-1 match win.
Gordon was outstanding over the final match, hammering down 10 kills (.400) and blocking nine blocks. Lisa Koller (Indianapolis, IN/Indianapolis Lutheran) added a career-high nine kills.
The Cougars (11-16) will take on Edgewood College Tuesday night in Madison, Wisconsin in a first-round Northern Athletics Conference tournament match.
