River Forest, Ill. – The Concordia University Chicago women's volleyball team made the short trek down Division street for the final NACC contest of the season on Wednesday night. The Cougars (10-16; 3-10 NACC) looked to pick up critical points in the River Forest Rivalry Cup against the Stars (9-17; 6-7 NACC), but were unable to do so, falling 3-0, despite forcing extra points in the opening set.
KEY STATS
- Katie Stonich led CUC with 12 kills on the night. Tonight was the 16th match this season with 10+ kills for Stonich.
- Isabelle Vernengo led the way with 24 assists.
- Julia Beers finished with a game high four aces. She also had six digs.
- Dominican out-hit CUC .254 to .216.
HOW IT HAPPENED
In front of a ruckus Dominican crowd, the Cougars jumped out early in set one. Stonich started the day with a kill. Beers then added two of her four aces on the day to continue the run. The Cougars run reached 7-0 with another Stonich kill and a block by Stonich and
Mikala Perino forcing a timeout.
Dominican cut the Cougar lead to just two, but the Cougars answered with another run with Beers serving once again. Beers added another ace during the run, and
Katie Schrems added two points with a kill and a block. The run extended the CUC lead to 19-13. The Stars then went on a 7-1 run to tie the set at 20. The two sides went to extra points, where kills by Gabija Sinickaite and Vicky Krzyszkowski gave Dominican the 28-26 set one win.
The Cougars came out strong again in set two, going on a 5-1 run.
Chloe Martin and
Alyssa Henline each picked up kills to help power the run. Dominican slowly fought their way back into the set tying it at 12 midway through. The Stars then went on a 7-1 run, which was too much for CUC to overcome as Dominican took set two 25-21.
The Stars raced to an early lead in set three and the Cougars were unable to recover, falling 25-18.
UP NEXT
The Cougars will close out the 2021 campaign on Friday afternoon when they head to Milwaukee for two non-conference matches against Carroll College and Mount Mary University. No live coverage will be available, but you will be able to catch score updates on the CUC Volleyball Twitter @CUC_Volleyball.