Chicago, Ill. – After opening the 2018 season on the road at Concordia Ann Arbor, the Concordia University Chicago Women's Volleyball team continued their 13 game road swing to start the year tonight with two matches at North Park. The Cougars would drop the first match in three sets to the University of Chicago (6-0) and the second in four sets to the host North Park University (3-2).
 
In the first match, the Cougars battled tough in the opening set, trading the lead six times in the early going. The Maroons were able to take the set though 25-15 as the Cougars had nine attack errors.
 
The Cougars struggled to get things going in both sets two and three, falling by scores of 25-10 and 25-18.
 
Julia Spitelli led the team with eight kills. Nicoletta Crowley finished with 26 assists while Elise Sombke finished with 11 digs to lead the team.
 
In match two, the Cougars had trouble getting going in set one as the Vikings had five aces and hit .391. CUC then found themselves in a 2-0 hole after North Park added five more aces in the second set while CUC had five errors themselves.
 
The Cougars finally got things going in set three. As a team CUC would hit .240 with seven kills and just one error. The also slowed down the North Park attack with two blocks. CUC also go their service game going, notching five aces in the set including four from Sombke.
 
Unfortunately for CUC, they were not able to keep the momentum going in set four, falling behind early before eventually falling by a final score of 25-14.
 
Spitelli led the offense once again with ten kills. Sombke finished with a team high five aces, while Alexis Hill had 12 digs. Crowley finished with 22 assists.
 
The Cougars (0-4) will continue their long road trip this weekend when they head north to Ashland, Wisconsin for the Northland College Tournament. The Cougars look to defend their tournament crown starting at 1:00pm on Friday against Silver Lake College.