Sept. 20, 2017- Concordia-Chicago had its first true road test tonight against Aurora University. The Cougars were off to a great start this season at 11-4 and 1-0 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference after a dominating display versus Benedictine University last Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Spartans came in at 7-5 on the year while playing a challenging schedule, including four ranked teams this past weekend. Aurora came at Concordia-Chicago right from the first serve, and the Cougars couldn't respond to their level of intensity, leaving the Spartans taking the match in three sets (25-11, 25-13, 25-13).  

Early in the first set, Aurora came out firing, connecting on their first seven kills to give them a 10-3 lead. Things did not get better for CUC as Aurora continued to outplay the Cougars to take set one 25-11.

Set two did not start well for Concordia-Chicago either as they quickly fell behind 11-5 behind multiple errors. Jaylynn Johnson tried to get CUC back in it with  a couple kills, but the Spartans took over late and won set two 25-13.  

In set three, the Cougars jumped out to an early 4-1 lead behind another Johnson kill and two well placed serves from Shannon Stamp that did not let Aurora get into their offense.  However, the Spartans quickly stole the momentum back from the Cougars, running off seven straight points. In the  middle of the set, both teams went back and forth, but the Spartans closed out the set winning 25-13 and taking the match 3-0.   

The Cougars (11-5, 1-1 NACC) return to action this Saturday, Sept. 23 in Lake Forest to take on Robert Morris-Springfield at 1 p.m. and Lake Forest College at 3 p.m..