Sept. 11, 2016 - The Concordia University Chicago Cougar Volleyball team took to the floor for the final time today before they finally make their debut in front of the River Forest crowd next week. Today would be a true road test for the Cougars, taking on the host Earlham College Quakers. Earlham got the best of the Cougars early in the first two sets, but the Cougars fought back to force a deciding fifth game. Unfortunately, CUC ran out of steam late to fall three sets to two. (16-25, 16-25, 25-22, 25-14, 11-15).

In set one, the two teams battled closely through the early points. Getting kills from Austin Thompson (Morris, IL/Morris Community), Arendia Ruiter (Kane'ohe, HI/Moanalua), and Raven Burns (Shorewood, IL/Minooka Community), CUC fell behind but got as close as 10-9. An 8-1 run for the host Quakers pulled the first set out of reach for CUC. The second set Earlham jumped out when CUC struggled to get organized on their end. Trailing 16-9, CUC got a kill from Burns to start a run that propelled CUC to within 17-15, forcing a Earlham timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Earlham took control quickly to finish the set.

In set three, the Cougars would come out with a high intensity and it paid off. CUC and Earlham battled even through the first six points. CUC took the lead at 7-6 with a service ace from Ruiter and never gave it back in the set.  With Burns serving CUC went on a five point run to take a 13-7 lead and force an Earlham timeout. Earlham made two tough runs following the timeout; the first was stopped by a kill by Thompson. CUC extended the lead to 22-15 before Earlham started their second run. The Quakers' second run, however,got to as close as 22-21. Burns put an end to the run, and a big dual block by Thompson and Johnson sealed the set.

Set four was dominated by CUC. Trailing 1-0, the Cougars rattled off an 8-0 run with Johnson serving, when the Quakers had issues controlling the hard serves. With the score 10-5, CUC made another large run. This time, with Alyssa Serewicz (St.Charles, IL/St.Charles North) serving, CUC went on a 9-0 run to put the set out of reach of the Quakers.  Calista Chaltron (Richmond, MI/Cardinal Mooney Catholic) got in on the action late in the set, scoring two of the final three points with great touch to force a decisive fifth set.

In the fifth set, Earlham scored the first three points in the race to 15. Chaltron got CUC on the board with back-to-back kills and to get within one. Thompson tied the game at six with a beautiful service ace, and on the next play Sarah Smith (St. Ignace, MI/LaSalle) gave CUC the lead with a perfect swing from the middle of the net. CUC would have their last lead at 8-7 after a Ruiter kill, but were unable to keep the momentum going in the set. The Quakers in front of their home crowd were able to go on just a long enough run to put the Cougars away in the hard fought match.

Ruiter, Johnson and Burns all finished with double digit points scored in the match. Ruiter would also lead the Cougars in assists and digs. The serving really came alive in the match for CUC, finishing with 16 aces.

The Cougars now head home to rest and get ready for just a single match next week. They will make their home debut in front of the Cougar crowd on Friday night against Robert Morris University.