River Forest, Ill.- Concordia University Chicago (9-3; 0-1) hosted NAIA foe Trinity Christian (9-8; 3-3) in a mid-week matchup. The Cougars looked to prove that they mean business, going up against a scholarship school. Early on it was all CUC but a TCC comeback extended the night. Concordia-Chicago showed grit and toughness and finished them out anyway in five sets (27-25, 28-26, 26-28, 25-17, 15-13).
Turning Point- Despite an early 2-0 set lead for the Cougars, Trinity fought back and tied it up at 2-2. On top of that, they went up 5-1 in the final set to 15. CUC came back from there and found a way to win in the fifth set 15-13.
Inside the Box Score-
- Four out of the five sets were decided by two points.
- Luke Vozenilek led the way with 24 kills on 58 attempts.
- Brandon Stirn recorded a team-leading 13 digs.
- In a close game mistakes add up, and TCC lost the error battle (22-18).
Quick Recap-
- In set one CUC set the tone early and often. Vozenilek started off the Cougars scoring with a kill coming off of a Weber assist.
- Errors plagued the Trolls, and Concordia-Chicago capitalized off of them.
- Following an error, Ryan Felbinger would bring home the first set win with a spike to make it 27-25.
- Set two would be another high-scoring set.
- Vozenilek once again sparked the CUC offense into its first points.
- Late in set two, TCC was creeping closely towards taking it.
- A Cougar timeout righted the ship and Virgilio Rodriguez would connect on the last three spikes for kills, willing CUC to a set two win (28-26)
- Set three would not be finished in 25 points either.
- It would go back and forth until the final point, but the Cougars would not be able to close out the match in three sets (26-28).
- Despite the Trolls' newfound momentum, CUC looked to close them out in four sets.
- Four straight points started off the TCC attack but a Vozenilek kill ended the streak and made it 4-1.
- CUC would fall behind as much as 8-3 early on. They would slowly lose traction and drop set four 25-17.
- With one more set to go the Cougars desperately needed to stop the Trolls groove.
- Early on, it was a 5-1 TCC advantage and looked bleak for CUC.
- The whole Cougar cast stepped up and took a refuse to lose mentality.
- Vozenilek would end the Troll comeback with a kill and a sigh of relief from the Concordia faithful. (15-13)
Up Next- Concordia-Chicago will face off against Maranatha Baptist University on February 29
th at 1:15 p.m.
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