ASHLAND, Wis. — Concordia-Chicago's women's volleyball closed out day two of the NC Invitational with back-to-back shutout victories and ended the weekend with a perfect 4-0 record.
Match One:
The Cougars took on fellow NACC member, Rockford University in an early-season, non-conference match up this morning. The Regents jumped out on a quick 3-0 lead with three consecutive kills to open up the first match of the day. However, with two kills from Julia Spitelli and a Shannon Stamp block, the Cougars quickly regained control looking at a 5-4 advantage. From the end line, Courtney Luciano led the Cougars with seven points, to pull away with a 9-5 lead. CUC out hit Rockford, 11 kills to five to snag the first set win, 25-14.
Concordia-Chicago continued to hold the hot hand throughout the rest of the match as the Cougars dominated the Regents in set two. CUC hit for .500 during the second set with 16 kills and just one attack error to breeze to a 25-9 victory. After a 25-14 third set victory, the Cougars had 38 kills on 83 attempts for a .325 attack percentage for the match.
Senior setter Nicoletta Crowley had 23 assists, eight digs and three service aces. Stamp had the match-high 12 kills for a .706 percentage and four total blocks.
Match Two:
The Cougars came out swinging again in match two this afternoon, tallying 33 kills on 94 attempts en route to their third match sweep of the weekend over host team, Northland College.
Stamp and Spitelli once again led CUC's front line, as each of them had six kills in the latter half of the day. Jaylynn Johnson contributed five kills of her own as well as one block. Elise Sombke had nine digs for the Cougar defense.
Concordia-Chicago's serve game continues to be a threat, as CUC aced Northland eight times, three of which came from freshman Kylee Niemantsverdriet.
The Cougars improve their record to 4-4 after this weekend, and will likely reclaim their thrown as tournament champions of the Northland College Invitational once the tournament has concluded.
With a midweek matchup in sight, CUC will return to action on Wednesday, Sept. 12 against River Forest rival, Dominican University. Game time is slated for a 7 p.m. start time.
