Sept. 10, 2013 - The Concordia-Chicago volleyball emerged from a 10-day hiatus to face an extremely difficult challenge. Their foe was the defending Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference champion Benedictine University Eagles playing on their home floor at the Rice Center. While the Cougars put up a good fight, it was not enough to topple the hosts as Benedictine won in three sets (25-17, 25-19, 25-10).

With the first set tied 4-4, a kill by Benedictine's Candice Cuppini triggered a 9-2 run that put the Eagles in control. The Cougars had no answer to Cuppini on this night as the outside hitter recorded 17 kills and a .727 attack. Trailing 23-11, Concordia put on a late rally aided by kills from Jenna Boggs (South Beloit, IL/Hononegah) and Lisa Koller (Indianapolis, IN/Indianapolis Lutheran) to pull to within 24-17. But the Eagles' Nicole Adams put down the final kill of the set.

Undaunted, the Cougars came out in set two and put together their finest set of the night. Koller and Katie Hannon (Chicago, IL/Queen of Peace) led the attack early in the set, but a couple of kills by Molly Kovacich later increased Benedictine's lead to 19-11. Once again, the Cougars rallied to make things interesting. A pair of kills by Koller pulled Concordia close at 22-18. The Eagles ended the threat there on a kill by Jacki Kaluzny before Cuppini finished it off with the two final kills.

Any thoughts of a comeback in set three were stifled early. Four kills by Cuppini lifted Benedictine to an early 8-2, and ann 8-3 run later on would put the Eagles' lead into double figures.

Benedictine hit .268 for the match on 42 kills. Concordia was limited to just 20 kills. Hannon led the Cougars with six kills, followed by Koller with five. Boggs handed out 15 assists For Benedictine, Cuppini was backed by Kovacich and Adams with eight kills each.

Concordia will travel to Greencastle, Indiana this weekend for four matches at the DePauw University Tournament.