ANGOLA, Ind. -- The Concordia-Chicago men's volleyball team kicked off its inaugural season in style at the Trine Invitational this evening, sweeping back-to-back games against Thomas More College and University of Mount Union.
VS. THOMAS MORE:
As the day got started, the Cougars came out eager to play but struggled to connect on offense. CUC fell behind early in set one and ultimately lost 25-17 to the Saints, hitting -25 percent off 16 attack attempts.
After shaking off the first game jitters, Concordia-Chicago bounced back and hit for .579, having 10 kills out of just 14 attempts to win the second set 25-15.
Despite only three kills in the first set and falling behind early, the Cougars came back with 36 kills over the remaining three sets to come away with the 3-1 win.
Nick Capers led the way with 11 kills, while
Anthony Galindo proved to be most efficient at the net with five kills on 10 attempts.
Matthew Geiser opened up his Concordia-Chicago career with 30 assists, five service aces and seven digs.
VS. MOUNT UNION:
In match two of the day, the Cougars came out electric and battled in a neck-and-neck three-set battle with the Raiders of Mount Union.
The end line proved to serve CUC well as they had 13 service aces on the night, compared to nine from Mount Union, including a five-point service run from Geiser to give the Cougars a much needed lead in the first set.
While Concordia-Chicago went on to win set one (25-20), the Cougars offense threatened the Raiders for the remainder of the contest. Mount Union jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead in the second, and the two teams would teeter back and forth until each had eight points apiece. The tie score wouldn't last however, as
Skylar Versendaal put the ball away to take a 9-8 lead for CUC. The Cougars held onto the lead for the remainder of the frame, as the team hit .435 off 13 kills to win it 25-21.
The Raiders refused to let the Cougars take the sweep easily, as set three proved to be a tooth-and-nail battle on both sides of the net. In fact, after CUC came back from a 6-1 deficit early on, there was never more than a three-point separation between the two teams until Capers went on a six-point run to lead Concordia to the game point. A kill from Geiser would conclude the match and secure the Cougars' opening day sweep at Trine.
CUC returns to action tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. (EST) to take on host Trine University.
