Rockford, Ill.- The Concordia-Chicago volleyball program came into tonight's match with a full week to prepare against Rockford University. The Cougars have played well so far this season leading to a 12-6 record and hoped to build on that tonight against Rockford. After a slow start, the Cougars found their rhythm to cruise to victory over the Regents in three sets. (25-19, 25-10, 25-20).     

Early in the first set, Elise Sombke got the Cougars rolling with back-to-back aces. Shortly after, the Regents capitalized on multiple CUC errors to take the lead at 6-3. However, midway through the set, Concordia-Chicago rallied to take back the lead at 14-13 on three consecutive kills by Jaylynn Johnson. The Cougars forced a Regents' timeout when Shannon Stamp had a big kill to extend the lead to 19-16. CUC cruised from there on to take set one, 25-19.

The Cougars took control of set two quickly. Rockford had three hitting errors, followed up with a kill by Julia Spitelli and an ace by Jennifer Livesay to force a Regents' timeout.  Concordia-Chicago continued their run of eight straight points, highlighted by two more Johnson kills before Rockford scored their first point. CUC continued to roll with kills by Spitelli and Livesay to take the lead at 17-7, and the Cougars closed out set two with a Stamp kill and take a two set lead.  

Concordia-Chicago didn't let the 10-minute break between sets cool them off. The Cougars came out hot again in set three, highlighted by back-to-back aces from Nicoletta Crowley to give CUC the lead at 7-2. The Rockford timeout halted the Cougars' momentum for the time being as the Regents closed the gap to 13-11, but Johnson quickly silenced the crowd with two more jaw-dropping kills to give CUC a 17-12 lead midway through set three. Rockford once again closed the gap as the Regents had multiple blocks to tie the game up at 18.  Concordia-Chicago got the lead right back by hitting errors from Rockford and a kill from Stamp to give the Cougars a 22-19 lead. The Cougars stayed on the throttle late in the set when Spitelli shut the door on the Regents with a kill to clinch a 25-20 victory.

Coach Campbell had this to say about the win at Rockford, "I thought as a team, we played very well under some pressure supplied by Rockford. It's always very tough to match the energy of a home team in the NACC, but under pressure our girls didn't panic. I didn't feel like we were pressured mentally, and the girls came through with a solid match."   

The Cougars (13-6, 2-1 NACC) return to action tomorrow afternoon in a doubleheader against Edgewood College and Maranatha Baptist University at 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. in Madison, WI.