RIVER FOREST, Ill.—Starting off the 2019 season at home for the first time since the 2011 season, the Concordia University Chicago Women's Volleyball team played host to the Concordia Invitational Volleyball Tournament today. CUC struggled to find a consistent rhythm throughout the day, falling in four sets to both Concordia Ann Arbor and Concordia Wisconsin.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
- Alyssa Henline led CUC on the day all around, finishing with 18 kills, 25 digs and seven aces, falling just one kill shy of a double-double in both matches.
- Kelly Gootee and Samantha Houser finished with 28 and 30 assists respectively.
- As a team CUC hit .183 on the day and finished with 18 blocks.
GAME ONE vs. CUAA
CUC held the lead early in set one against CUAA. The Cardinals answered with a 6-0 run to take a 9-6 lead. The Cougars stormed back to take a 15-14 lead on a big block by
Jaylynn Johnson and
Caroline Gibbons. The two sides battled closely, but CUAA was able to score six of the final eight points to take set one 25-22.
CUC grabbed an early 8-4 lead in set two with a 6-0 run that was powered by aces by Henline and Houser and a kill by
Julia Spitelli. The Cougars continued to build on their lead, getting kills by Gibbons and
Tori Steele to extend the lead to 17-10. CUAA rallied following a timeout. They went on a 10-2 run to take a 2-0 set lead by closing out set two 25-22.
CUAA opened set three on a 5-0 run. CUC slowly battled their way back to take a 10-9 lead on a block by Johnson. The two sides traded points into the later stages of the set when CUC would use a 9-1 run which was powered by kills by Gibbons and Henline to take a 21-13 lead. The Cougars withstood a late rally to take set three 25-18 on a Henline kill.
CUAA took advantage of CUC errors in set four. The Cardinals went on a 14-1 run to take a 21-9 lead. The Cardinals then closed out the match by taking set four 25-12.
GAME TWO vs. CUW:
CUW took an early advantage in set one, using their serving to get CUC out of system. They built their lead to 11-5 forcing a CUC timeout. CUC stormed back with Henline serving to get back within 12-10, but that would be as close as they would get in the set, as the Falcons would take set one 25-19.
After CUW took an early lead in set two, CUC answered with a run with Gootee serving to take a 6-5 lead. The Falcons quickly answered and were able to build their lead out to as many as nine as they took set two 25-16.
Set three was the most competitive of the day. It featured 13 ties and four lead changes. CUC grabbed the lead first with an ace by Houser. CUC answered a CUW run midway through the set with
Jennifer Livesay serving to force a Falcon timeout with the score 15-14. Both sides continued to battle closely, but the Cougars were able to put the final points together on blocks by
Tori Steele and Johnson and Johnson and Henline to close out set three 26-24.
Set four featured ten ties and three lead changes in its own right. Battled closely throughout, CUC held their last lead at 13-12 before the Falcons were able to push ahead for good. They were able to take set four 25-22 to close out their CIVT championship.
The Cougars will be back in action on Wednesday night as the close out their four match homestand to open 2019. They will take on North Park and North Central at 6:00pm and 8:00pm inside Geiseman Gymnasium. If you cannot make it to the matches you can find the live links at
cucougars.com/coverage. You can also follow along live on twitter
@CUCVolleyball.
