Madison, Wis.- Concordia-Chicago finished their weekend trip this afternoon against Edgewood College and Maranatha Baptist University. Coming off a convincing win at Rockford last night, the Cougars hoped to build off of that into the two key matches today. Unfortunately for CUC, the Eagles' attack was too much for the Cougars, which led EC to a 3-0 victory (25-19, 25-16, 25-15). However, the second match against MBU was the complete opposite. The Cougars' attack was clicking on all cylinders, cruising to a three-set sweep of the Sabercats (25-15, 25-18, 25-18) and improving their record to 14-7.  

Both teams came out playing well as they were trading points back and forth with the match tied at eight. As play went on, Edgewood seemed to be playing with more confidence as they jumped ahead of Concordia-Chicago 15-10. The Eagles continued to capitalize on multiple Cougar receiving errors and extend their lead to a game-high seven points.  After a timeout, the Cougars came back within four behind kills from Jennifer Livesay, but the Eagles were able to hold onto set one 25-19.

Concordia-Chicago came out in set two on fire with great serving from Livesay while Jaylynn Johnson continued to hammer crowd-pleasing kills that created a 6-3 Cougars lead. However, the Eagles came back to take an 18-14 lead behind more receiving errors from the Cougars. The Eagles continued to dominate the second half of set two, rolling to a 25-16 win.

Set three didn't start well for the Cougars. The Eagles jumped out quickly and set the tone, building a 10-7 lead. The Cougars had no answer for the Eagles' attack as they closed out the set and match with a 25-15 win.   

The Cougars quickly forgot about a disappointing first match as they prepared to face Maranatha Baptist in the second match. Concordia-Chicago jumped out to a 10-3 lead with a balanced attack on offense and getting to balls on defense they were not getting before. CUC continued to roll with the balanced offense attack with Johnson, Livesay, and Shelby Spitz all having two or more kills to win set one 25-15.

In set two, CUC jumped out to an 11-7 lead due to the excellent serving from Shannon Stamp and Alexa Lomantini, in which the Sabercats could not generate any sort of attack. CUC continued to apply pressure on the MBU defense with an Austin Thompson kill that gave the Cougars a 17-11 lead. After a timeout, it was the Julia Spitelli show rattling off five straight kills ending the set at 25-18.

Much like the first two sets, Concordia-Chicago came out dominating in set three. A Stamp kill, followed up with aces by Elise Sombke and Courtney Luciano stretched the Cougars' lead to 9-3.  Maranatha came back and cut the lead to as close as three, but Spitelli again fired off two more kills to go along with another Sombke ace and give the Cougars a 14-9 lead.  CUC was just too much for the Sabercats as the Cougars closed out the set and the match with a 25-18 victory.      

The Cougars (14-7, 2-2 NACC) return to action Friday, October 6, when they return to Geiseman Gymnasium for the first time in 23 days to host Marian University at 7 p.m.