RIVER FOREST, ILL.—After dropping two matches to open the 2019 season, the Concordia University Chicago Women's Volleyball team took to the floor to more times this evening. They split the night, dropping the first match to North Central 3-0 before picking up their first win of 2019 in a dramatic 3-2 five set victory over North Park.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE:
- Kelly Gootee and Samantha Houser both had double-doubles against North Central.
- Jaylynn Johnson led the way with 21 kills in the two matches.
- Julia Beers had a career high 20 digs against North Central
- Two of the last three matches against North Park have gone five sets.
Match One vs. North Central:
In set one, the Cougars started off strong. An ace from Houser put the Cougars up 8-6 in the early goings. The Cougars continued to add to their lead with another ace, this time coming from
Shannon Stamp, making the score 21-15 in set one. The Cardinals, however, rallied back with a 10-1 run to take set one 25-22.
The second set saw the Cougars keep things close in the early goings, with an ace coming from
Alexa Lomantini. Concordia continued to fight, with a kill from
Alyssa Henline, tying the score up at 14-14. The Cardinals began to pull away from the Cougars with kills and capitalizing off of Concordia errors. Despite a late comeback effort, North Central won the set, 25-21, and took a 2-0 match lead.
In set three, the Cougars grabbed an early 7-3 lead with kills from Lomantini and Johnson. Henline and Johnson got the offense going to keep the Cougars within striking distance at 19-17. CUC would not be able to complete the comeback, as NCC closed on a 6-1 run to take set three 25-18 and the match 3-0.
MATCH TWO vs. North Park:
In the first set, the Cougars were able to stretch an early 9-3 lead by capitalizing off of Viking errors along with an ace from Houser. The Vikings fought back to tie the game 13 before taking the lead to force a CUC timeout. Concordia then sparked a comeback, battling back from an 18-14 deficit to then take the lead back. It was Johnson and Henline again who sparked the offense to bring the Cougars back to take set one 25-23.
In the second set, the two sides split points early before CUC was able to rip off a 7-0 run with Gootee serving to take a 12-6 lead. Having her best match of the young season Johnson picked up another kill that, brought the score to 23-11, which was a part of a 10-1 run from the Cougars. A final kill from
Julia Spitelli secured the 25-15 win for the Cougars, bringing the match score to 2-0.
For the third set of the match, the Cougars started off down, but a kill from Spitelli brought them within five. From there, the Vikings went on a run, forcing the Concordia timeout at a score of 12-4. Despite kills from Stamp and
Tori Steele, the Cougars found themselves on the wrong side of a 25-14 score in set three.
In the fourth set, both teams fought back and forth early. An ace from
Kelly Gootee and a kill from Steele gave the Cougars the lead at 12-11. Later on, the Vikings went on an 8-2 run to take the lead back for good in set four. The Vikings took set four 25-20 to force a deciding fifth set.
In the fifth and final set of the evening, kills from Stamp and Spitelli kept the game tied at four. Johnson continued her strong night with three kills that contributed to a 10-9 lead. The Vikings continued to keep pace with the Cougars with a score of 14-13. A final kill from Stamp secured the game and match win for the Cougars, 15-13, 3-2.
The Cougars will now hit the road for their next eight matches. They will start the road trip this weekend when they head to Ashland Wisconsin for the Northland College Tournament. The Cougars will look to defend their tournament crown beginning on Friday afternoon against Nebraska Wesleyan.
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