ASHLAND, Wis. — The Concordia-Chicago women's volleyball team swept back-to-back opponents today, earning their first two victories of the season against Silver Lake College and St. Catherine University at the Northland College Invitational.
In the first match of the day, the Cougars ran away with the 3-0 victory against the Lakers, with the latter half of the day proving to be an instant classic. CUC fell two sets behind in match two against St. Kate's, but bounced back to win three-straight and rob the Wildcats of victory.
Match One:
The Cougars got off to a slow start in match one, with three different errors, giving Silver Lake the early 4-2 lead. Trailing 4-5, CUC sent Chloe Martin to the service line. The freshman from Effingham, Ill. combined for five aces and solid serving to pull away from the Lakers 12-5. SLC would not pull within two points of the Cougars for the remainder of the set as Concordia-Chicago won set one, 25-14.
In set two, the Cougars hit for a .292 team attack percentage, opposed to Silver Lake's .000, despite CUC trailing by a margin of four points early in the set. Concordia-Chicago caught up to the Lakers at nine points apiece, pulling ahead by two thanks to a SLC error and kill from Mikala Perino. With the 11-9 advantage, the Cougars offense shut down Silver Lake and pulled out the 25-17 set two victory.
With the first win of the season within reach, CUC opened up the third set with five straight points thanks to kills from Shannon Stamp, Julia Spitelli and Martin. Kelly Gootee stepped to the service line, with the Cougars leading 6-1, and served six points for CUC with three aces. Concordia-Chicago would not let the Lakers within a five-point margin for the rest of the set, as the Cougars cruised to a 25-15 set three win to solidify the team's first win of the season.
Spitelli led match one with a game high, eight kills. Gootee and Samantha Houser combined for 17 assists.
Match Two:
CUC couldn't close in on the Wildcats during the first two sets, trailing 0-2 heading into the third and with backs against the wall. With the match on the line, the Cougars tied SCU at 9-9. From there, the two teams would trade the lead back-and-forth, as the game would be tied 14 more times until the Cougars squeaked out the third set victory, 28-26.
The Cougars continued to carry their momentum throughout the rest of the match. The team put away 12 kills and hit for a high of .357 in their 25-13 fourth set win, which ultimately forced a decisive game five.
With a 14-12 lead in the final set, a Shannon Stamp kill would solidify the Cougars' thrilling 3-2 victory over St. Catherine University.
Overall, CUC out-hit the Wildcats 36-19 through the final three sets. Stamp had a game-high 18 kills. Spitelli and
Jaylynn Johnson each had 16 and 10 kills, respectively. Senior
Nicoletta Crowley had a double-double with 42 assists and 14 digs.
Stat of the Day: 20 - The Cougars served 20 aces today, 16 of which came from the first match alone.
The Cougars return to action tomorrow morning, at 10 a.m., to kick off day two of the Northland College Invitational.
