Oct. 11, 2016 - The rivalry was renewed tonight inside Geiseman Gymnasium. The Concordia University Chicago Cougars took to the floor against the Dominican University Stars in a River Forest Rivalry Cup match sponsored by Northwestern Mutual. Both fan bases came out in full support of both teams tonight, creating a rocking atmosphere inside Geiseman Gymnasium. More importantly, it was an opportunity for the Cougars to climb back into the Northern Athletics Colligate Conference playoff picture. The Cougars came out firing early, but Dominican was able to weather the Cougars' bite, taking the match from CUC 3-1 (26-24, 12-25, 23-25, 13-25)

In set one, Dominican came firing out of the gate to a quick lead, but the Cougars did not waver with early kills from Jaylynn Johnson and Austin Thompson to tie the set up at six. The Cougars continued to fight, matching the Star's energy, but a short run gave Dominican a 12-8 lead, forcing a CUC timeout.  CUC came ready for a rival battle, fighting back in the set with big swings off the left side by Thompson to force a Stars' timeout with the Cougars trailing by just one. The Cougars' attack kept coming with nice tip by Arendia Ruiter, and a huge swing by Raven Burns off the right side got Geiseman rocking. CUC took their final timeout trailing in the set by three, 22-19. CUC used a Dominican error, and a big jump serve ace by Ruiter to pull within one. Thompson took over from there, continuing to dominate off the left side. CUC took a spirited set one 26-24 with Thompson putting together a near perfect first set with eight kills while hitting .800.

Set two continued to see the intensity increase in front of the big Division Street rivalry crowd. The teams continued to exchange points throughout the early points of set two, with Thompson continuing to have her way, putting away three of the first six points for CUC. The Cougars opened up a four-point lead at 13-9 when Johnson knocked down three booming kills in the middle of the floor, sending the Cougar faithful into a frenzy and forcing a Stars' timeout. Dominican answered quickly after to tie the set at 13 and forcing CUC to take a timeout.  A kill by Sarah Smith gave the Cougars the lead at 18-17 late, but Dominican was able to get things rolling just enough to take the set 25-21 to tie the match at one set apiece.

In set three, the Stars used the momentum from the second set to jump out early 8-3. The Cougars continued to ride the intensity of the crowd and slowly fought back in the set.  Kills by Smith and Ruiter coupled with an ace by Thompson forced a Dominican timeout with CUC trailing 15-12. The Cougars were able to tie the set at 17 with an Alyssa Serewicz ace. The two teams continued to battle point for point late into the set. It wasn't until the last two points went Dominican's way that the set fell in the Stars' favor 25-13.

In set four, Dominican got their offense rolling on all cylinders, cruising to a big lead early. The Cougars tried to fight back late in the set, but would fall in set four 25-13.

Thompson led the way for CUC with a season high 18 kills in the match. Crowley finished with 30 assists on the match, while Hannah Johnson finished with a team high 21 digs on the match.
                                   
The Cougars will look to take tonight's energy to the road for the weekend when they take on Lakeland University on Friday night, and then conclude the three match week at Marian on Saturday.