River Forest, Ill.- Concordia University Chicago (8-12; 2-2 NACC) hosted Milwaukee School of Engineering (7-12; 2-2 NACC) in the 20^th game of the 2019 season. CUC was coming off of a dominant sweep of Alverno College a week prior. Coming into the match, the Cougars held a 10-6 advantage all-time versus the Raiders, and a current one game winning streak. Concordia-Chicago looked eager to close out MSOE with two quick set wins in succession. They would complete the sweep (25-12, 25-18, 25-21 ) and earn their third conference win of the season. 
 
Inside the Box Score:

• Julia Spitelli paced the CUC attack with 16 kills, followed by Shannon Stamp (7) and Alyssa Henline (6).
• Another big game came from Kelly Gootee, who led the team in assists (31).
• As a team, the Cougars held a .284 hitting percentage, while MSOE had a .086.

 
In the opening set Concordia Chicago came out firing on all cylinders. A strong 9-3 run to begin the set was capped off by a Gootee ace that electrified the crowd. More big plays would be made by CUC. Stamp took advantage of a free ball and hammered one right back at the MSOE defense to make the score 16-9. From there, the Cougars would swiftly take care of the Raiders and win the first set 25-12.
 

 
 
MSOE started off a lot stronger in set two. The Raiders would open up with a 3-1 lead that would be taken away shortly after. Concordia-Chicago answered the MSOE hot start with a 8-2 run and a Jaylynn Johnson kill to extend the lead to 9-5. The Cougars would find even more breathing room after solid play and forced MSOE to call their first timeout of set two after leading 18-13. Spitelli set the tone after the timeout and gave CUC extra cushion to their lead. Concordia-Chicago would, once again, breeze to the finish line and win set two 25-18 after another Johnson kill closed it out. 
 

 
Set three began with a side-out by the Raider offense, and two Spitelli kills, to give the Cougars the footing they needed. MSOE would use another timeout with the score at 12-7, to try and regroup and forge a comeback. The Raiders gained a little traction but a Spitelli kill and a defensive miscue allowed the Cougars to own a 18-13 lead. MSOE made a second effort at a comeback after a 5-2 run and forced a CUC timeout with the score 20-18. Once again, the Raiders would be denied, and the Cougars would finish out the sweep 25-21
 
Concordia-Chicago will look ahead to Concordia-Wisconsin on Saturday, October 5^th. Game-time is set for 12:00 p.m.