Oct. 28, 2016 - While this volleyball season was not one which lived up to initial expectations, the Concordia-Chicago Cougars will at least head into the offseason with a two-match winning streak. The Cougars followed up a win in their home finale on Tuesday with a 3-0 win (25-17, 26-24, 25-13) over Mount Mary University in Wauwatosa, WI this evening.

The Cougars' serving was in good form this evening as they recorded 15 for the match. In set one, an ace by Shelby Spitz gave CUC its first lead at 3-2, and Sarah Smith recorded the Cougars' first kill on the next play. The Blue Angels caught the Cougars at 6-6, but the visitors scored the next three points to regain the lead, two of the points coming on a pair of aces by Austin Thompson. The Cougars eventually expanded their lead to 19-12 on a 4-0 run, helped out by another ace from Spitz. Concordia-Chicago would wrap up the set with Smith's kill providing the final point.

Set two began with Mount Mary opening up an early lead, but kills from Smith and Arendia Ruiter would keep the Cougars in the hunt. However, the Blue Angels held the lead for a while, eventually grabbing a 21-16 lead. The Cougars got the serve back on a Blue Angels' error, and Hannah Johnson then served up four consecutive points, with her ace tying the set at 21-21. Moments later, the set was tied at 24-24 when Thompson connected on back-to-back kills to give the Cougars the set and a 2-0 lead in the match.

The final set was not as suspenseful as the Cougars reeled off five different 4-0 runs. The first one led to an early 6-1 lead and, after MMU closed to within 6-5, kills by Thompson and Smith along with an ace by Nikki Crowley allowed the Cougars some breathing room. Raven Burns and Jaylynn Johnson later got in on the act with kill shots, and with the lead at 22-13, Ruiter finished off the match, appropriately, with three aces.

Smith led CUC with six kills, followed by Thompson and J. Johnson with five each. Ruiter, H. Johnson and Courtney Luciano each had three of the team's 15 aces, with Luciano also leading the Cougars in digs with 11.

The Cougars finished with a record of 6-22 for the season. They are expected to return the entire roster with the exception of senior Burns.