Sept. 25, 2012 - The Concordia Cougars received all they could handle this evening in Geiseman Gymnasium as they hosted the Milwaukee School of Engineering. They fell behind a pesky Raiders' side 2-1 but battled back tenaciously and eventually captured a five-set victory by scores of 25-22, 17-25, 25-27, 25-18 and 15-10.
The first set was tied 22-22 when Concordia scored on a pair of blocks.
Bianca Gordon (Milwaukee, WI/Milwaukee Lutheran) teamed with
Kristin Allen (Green Valley, IL/Illini Central) and
Jenna Boggs (South Beloit, IL/Hononegah) to give the Cougars a 24-22 lead before an MSOE hitting error ended set one. Concordia's blocking game was superb throughout the match as they collected 14 points swatting back Raiders' kill attempts.
The visitors found some offensive rhythm in sets two and three to keep Concordia on its heels. Set three went down to the wire as Gordon's kill tied the set at 25-25. But a serving error gave the advantage to MSOE, and a kill by Lynnsey LeCount ended the set and put the Raiders up 2-1 in the match.
Trailing 10-9 in set four,
Claire Mackey's (Shelton, NE/Heartland Lutheran) kill triggered a 7-0 run that was helped out by a succession of Raider errors. Kills by Gordon and
Sarah Brendel (Hazelwood, MO/Hazelwood West) held off MSOE the rest of the way and sent the match to a deciding fifth set.
Gordon and Allen started out set five with a pair of kills. The Raiders would come back to tie, but Gordon recorded another kill as part of a 4-0 run that gave the Cougars a 10-6 lead. MSOE made one final charge, but Gordon wrapped up the match with a strong kill off of Boggs' assist for the win.
Hitting leaders included Gordon with 15 kills and a .370 attack, followed by Mackey with 12 kills. LeCount led the Raiders with 12 kills while Stephanie Hasler added 10. Boggs handed out 29 assists, and
Maryl Pinotti (Evergreen Park, IL/H.S.) recorded 27 digs to go along with steady serve receptions.
The Cougars (4-8, 2-2 NAC) will host Maranatha Baptist Bible College Friday night at 7:00,
