September 2, 2016- Volleyball is a sport of timing. When a team is in sync it looks like a very well-choreographed art. The Concordia Chicago Cougars finally had their opportunity to hit the floor after working hard through the heat and the long days of the pre-season. One of the big challenges of the pre-season was getting many new young faces on the same page in a very short amount of time. The Cougars headed to Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois to open up their season today. CUC found themselves out of sync all day long and fell in both of their opening matches in straight sets.

In the first match against Illinois College, CUC got their first point of the season from Arendia Ruiter (Kane'ohe, HI, Moanalua) to get things started. Illinois college slowly began to take control of the set when the Cougar attack fell flat and committed six errors in a row early in the set leading to Lady Blues points. Illinois College stretched the lead to as many as eight points in the set. CUC would rally to get within 20-23 but would run out of steam falling 25-20.

Illinois College took the second set 25-14 after quickly jumping out to a 4-0 lead. Set three looked the most promising for the Cougars. After falling behind 5-2 CUC made a run with Jaylynn Johnson (Denver, CO, Visa Peak) serving, and took the 6-5 lead when Nicoletta Crowley (Romeoville, IL, Romeoville) and Sarah Smith (St. Ignace, MI, LaSalle) combined for a big block. The two teams then went into a seesaw battle for a continued stretch. CUC looked to have the momentum and edge late after a big kill by senior Raven Burns to make it 17-16 CUC. Illinois College unfortunately took nine of the next ten points to take the match in straight sets.

In the second match of the day, CUC was pitted against an experienced NAIA school in Missouri Valley. The Cougars had trouble getting anything going against the Vikings, and fell in straight sets (25-11, 25-7, 25-18)

The Cougars (0-2) will conclude their weekend in Jacksonville, Illinois with two more matches on Saturday. They square off against Simpson College at 10:00am, and then will take on MacMurray College immediately following at 12:00pm.