Aurora, Ill.- Concordia-Chicago volleyball returned to the floor this evening participating in the Aurora Tournament where they took on Aurora University and North Park University. CUC has already played both these teams this season where the Cougars lost in three sets to the Spartans and beat the Vikings in four sets back at the Concordia-Chicago Quad. Unfortunately for the Cougars, the Spartans jumped out early and didn't look back beating the Cougars in three sets (25-12, 25-15, 25-8). Much like Tuesday night, the Cougars couldn't close out the match when up two sets as they lost a heartbreaker to North Park (30-32, 22-25, 25-21, 25-21, 15-12).
From the opening serve, Aurora was able to find holes in the Cougars defense to jump out to a quick 5-0 lead. The Spartans continued to dominate the middle part of set one leading by as much as eleven. The Cougars cut the lead to as little as five led by Shannon Stamp and Jennifer Livesay, but the Spartans took the set 25-12.
Beginning of set two was more friendly for the Cougars with Livesay and Jaylynn Johnson delivering big kills that allowed the CUC deficit to one at 11-10. Aurora then scored five of the next six points to give them their largest lead of the set at 16-11 and force a Cougars timeout. Concordia-Chicago couldn't escape the deficit as Aurora won set two 25-15.
Set three was all Spartans from the get go as they jumped out to a 10-2 lead that forced a CUC timeout. Aurora closed out the match in three sets by winning 25-8.
The first set between Concordia-Chicago and North Park was one that had everything in it as a fan. Spectacular plays, drama, and points going to the 30s for each team. The Cougars jumped out to a 12-9 lead with kills by Jaylynn Johnson and Austin Thompson to go along with multiple hitting errors from the Vikings. North Park came back to tie the match at 13, but from there on, no team had a lead greater than two. Julia Spitelli had five kills including the set winner to give the Cougars a 32-30 win.
Set two was much of the same, but this time the Vikings jumped out to an early lead. Concordia-Chicago came back to tie the match at 4 and again both teams were going back and forth trading points. Spitelli and Livesay continued their great play into middle of the set when Shannon Stamp capped off two straight kills to give the Cougars their largest lead at 19-15. Two more Stamp kills to go with another Spitelli clincher gave the Cougars a 25-22 win.
In set three, the Cougars clawed their way into an early 6-3 lead with kills by Johnson and Thompson. However, the Vikings came storming back scoring ten of the next twelve points to take a 13-8 lead. CUC managed to inch their way back into the match with three straight kills from Johnson to tie the match at 15. From there, North Park took control of the match, scoring the last four points to go onto win 25-21.
Sets four and five were much of the same for the Vikings and Cougars as both teams continued to battle each other without getting a big lead on one another. North park capitalized on the Cougars in the middle of set four scoring five straight points to hold even for the rest of the match and take the set 25-21. Set five saw more back and forth play with the Vikings leading 11-10 late. The Cougars kept trying to get back into the game led by three straight kills from Stamp, but the Vikings were able to hold off CUC and complete the comeback.
The Cougars had five players with double digit kills: Stamp with 13, Johnson and Spitelli each with 12, and Livesay and Thompson each with 10. Nicoletta Crowley led the team with 51 assists and two service aces.
The Cougars (18-13) return to action tomorrow afternoon as they conclude their season at the Aurora Tournament when they take on University of Chicago at 12:00pm and University of Dubuque at 2:00pm.
