ANGOLA. Ind. -- Though they were not an easy two games, the Concordia-Chicago men's volleyball team battled for back-to-back four and five set matches in an effort to preserve their undefeated start to their inaugural season this morning.
VS. TRINE:
Concordia-Chicago opened up the morning match playing clean and quick. En route to a crucial first set victory, the Cougars out hit the Thunder .316 to .000. Thanks to seven assists from
Matthew Geiser, CUC cleaned up 11 kills and five errors on 19 attempts.
Coming off a first set loss, Trine responded back at the front line shutting down seemingly any glimpse of a Cougar attack. The Thunder opened up with a three-point lead thanks to a service ace and defensive miscues, which CUC never seemed to overcome in set two. With eight attack errors on CUC's side, Trine pulled away by as many as seven points down the stretch. With a 22-15 lead,
Skylar Versendaal sparked a comeback for the Cougars and brought Concordia within three of the host team. However, it wasn't enough as Trine closed out the set with the 25-20 win.
CUC got back into a groove for set three, and despite falling behind 12-6 early on, clutch efforts from
Virgilio Rodriguez from the service line and attack kept the game at bay for Concordia. While the Cougars closely trailed for the majority of the frame, CUC finally took hold of the lead at 17-16 off a kill from
Ryan Felbinger. The two teams stayed close to one another, as the Cougars just escaped the Thunder with a 25-23 third set victory.
The Cougars were one set away from victory in the fourth, as CUC seemed to control the game's momentum while taking a 16-11 lead. Despite the deficit, Trine answered back and pulled within one of CUC at 17-16 to force a Concordia timeout. The two teams rallied back and forth, exchanging the lead several times. With what seemed like room to breathe at 22-20,
Brian Perez aced the Thunder to put the Cougars just two points away from a match victory. One Trine service error and a
Nick Capers kill later, CUC had won its third straight match, four sets to one.
VS. NORTH PARK:
CUC's Chicago neighbor, North Park gave the Cougars their biggest test of the season thus far, after forcing CUC to five sets.
The Cougars cruised through sets one and two of the match, defeating the Vikings 25-16 and 25-14, respectively.
After a close opening to set three, North Park went on a run for five-unanswered points to pull away 14-8, which was ultimately too big a deficit for CUC to overcome. Despite the loss, Concordia's attackers remained solid at the net, accounting for 14 kills on 31 attempts with just three errors (.355).
As the match progressed, it was clear that the Vikings' energy wasn't going away and the Cougars would have to be pushed to a fifth set to earn their fourth consecutive win of the season. After trailing North Park by one point throughout the first half of the final set, a crucial solo block from Capers finally made things even at seven points apiece. From there, Rodgriguez led from the end line with four solid serves as the Cougars were just four points away from victory, leading 11-8. North Park refused to give in, but ultimately a match point kill from Felbinger ended the day.
The Cougars are now 4-0 and do not return to the floor for a contest until Feb. 8 against Marian to kick off NACC action.
