Jacksonville, Ill.- After an exciting and dominating performance on Wednesday night while also coming in on a six-game winning streak, the Concordia University Chicago Cougars Volleyball team opened up a four-match weekend at Illinois College today. Getting the offense going all day long was tough. CUC battled tough though to come back from a 2-0 deficit in the opening match of the day over the hosts Illinois college. CUC then started quick in the second match of the day against Olivet but were unable to keep the momentum. The loss to Olivet ended the Cougar's seven game winning streak.
 
In match one, the Cougars fell behind in the first two sets and struggled to recover. Getting the attack rolling was just as tough. CUC fell in a 2-0 hole by scores of 25-14 and 25-11 to the hosts Illinois College.
 
In set three the Cougars got things rolling. CUC trailed early on in the set until kills by Shannon Stamp and Austin Thompson helped to tie the set up at nine. Jaylynn Johnson then got her attack rolling on swings from the outside to give CUC the lead. Nicoletta Crowley continued to push the Cougar lead to 13-10 which forced an Illinois College timeout. The timeout was to no avail though as the CUC block durned back three Lady Blues attacks for points. To top off the 6-0 run Crowley placed two serves perfectly that Illinois College was unable to handle. The Lady Blues threatened late in the set but big swings by Johnson for the final two points earned CUC the set 25-21.
 
Set four saw the two teams battle through the early points. The Cougars used a 4-0 run with kills by Alexa Lomantini and Johnson to help open up a little breathing room and force an Illinois College timeout. The Lady Blues fought back with a 5-0 run of their own to take the lead late in the set at 19-18. Julia Spitelli gave CUC the lead back at 20-19 with a block. It took an extra point but it was an exclamation on a big block by Stamp and Johnson to force the decisive game five.
 
In set five CUC fell behind quickly 5-1 but just as quickly erased it after the timeout with a 7-0 run.  With Courtney Luciano serving, it was the Cougar block again that helped to fuel the run that opened up a 11-6 lead. Illinois College wouldn't go away quietly on their home floor and tied the set up at 11 with a run of their own. CUC was able to force two IC attack errors before getting an ace by Stamp and a kill by Spitelli to close out the five-set victory.
 
The Cougar block and defense was the story of the match. In total, CUC finished with 11 total team blocks, with a big part of that coming from Stamp who had nine block assists. Defensively Luciano, Lomantini and Elise Sombke all recorded double-digit digs.
 
In match two, CUC fought from behind using their strong defense and block again to hang on for the 25-22 victory.  Stamp and Johnson both recorded three kills and two blocks in the set. Unfortunately for CUC they would not be able to get much going in their direction in sets two three and four and would see their seven-game winning streak come to a close.
 
The Cougars (10-3) now will rest up before taking to the court for two more matches tomorrow against St. Mary's (Ind.) and Robert Morris Springfield tomorrow at 10:00am & 12:00pm.