Oct. 20, 2015 - The Concordia-Chicago Cougars and Benedictine Eagles squared off tonight in Lisle this evening with much at stake in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference standings. The two long-time rivals entered tonight's match tied for the sixth and final spot for a NACC tournament berth with 4-4 conference records.
Benedictine served first and put away two kills before CUC grabbed its first point. The Eagles had their blocking game working in the early going and powered to a 10-4 lead. However, with Nicole Inwards (Waltham, MN/Blooming Prairie) serving, the Cougars rallied back to within 10-8 and found themselves back in the hunt. Momentum slowly swung to CUC as they crept to within 16-15 but, suddenly, the hosts ran off nine straight points to capture the first set of the night. The Eagles had a solid hitting attack (12 kills, .231) while the Cougars committed six errors against their six kills. CUC also had an unusually rough time handling the opponents' serves as Benedictine recorded five aces in the opening set Set two was CUC's best effort of the night. The action went back and forth much of the way, with neither team gaining a lead of more than two points. But, with the set tied 15-15, the Eagles ran off five unanswered points. Concordia-Chicago fought back to within 21-20, but Benedictine bounced back for the sideout and then served the next three points to take the set 25-21 and go up 2-0 in the match.
The third set saw Benedictine break a 3-3 tie with a 9-1 run to take firm control. The Eagles' solid serving reasserted itself and, fittingly, they scored the final two points of the match in a 25-13 win and a sweep for the evening.
Concordia-Chicago hit just .054 for the night. Mary Arredia (Franklin Park, IL/West Leyden) topped the Cougars with seven kills while Austin Thompson (Morris, IL/Morris Community) added six. Setter Nicoletta Crowley (Romeoville, IL/H.S.) handed out 21 assists while adding five kills. Benedictine hit .274 for the match, led by Weigand's 12 kills (.308) and Epping's 11 kills (.450).
"We were back on our heels from the opening minutes and did not do a good job of handling their pressure," said CUC head coach Troy Campbell. "We understand that this is part of the journey for getting to where we want to be, and we're going to learn from this, keep working and strive to be better next time." The Cougars (9-14, 4-5 NACC) will host Wisconsin Lutheran College on Friday night at 7:00. It will be Senior Night as the team will honor Arredia, Jackie Bartnicki (Chicago, IL/Guerin Prep) and Mary Umstattd (Phoenix, AZ/Westview).
