Fond du Loc, Wis. -- The Concordia University Chicago women's volleyball team kicked off their weekend away from home with a visit to Marian University to take on the Sabres. It was a roller coaster of a battle, with the Cougars eventually falling in five sets.
Set one was the most tightly contested of the night. After trading leads early on, the Sabres jumped to a 19-13 lead following a 6-0 scoring run. The Cougars were resilient, however, responding with a 5-0 run to cut the lead to one. CUC would piece together another 4-0 run to even things at 24 before Marian captured the final two points to earn the victory.
The second set was all Cougars. Marian never got closer than within eight points after CUC went ahead 15-6. The two teams exchanged points the rest of the way, as the team cruised to a 25-16 victory.
It was much of the same in the third set, as the Cougars didn't trail at any point. They scored seven of the final nine points and took the set by a final of 25-15.
Marian opened up the fourth set with four straight points and never looked back, winning 25-19 and forcing a fifth set.
Concordia got out to a quick 4-1 read in the fifth and final set before the Sabres took a commanding 14-10 lead. The Cougars didn't go down without a fight, scoring the next three points to pull within one. After a Marian timeout, however, they were able to secure the 15th and final point of the set.
Highlights
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Junior Joy Greco (Brookfield, Ill.) led the team with a career-high 17 kills. Her 17.5 points were also tops on the team.
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Fellow junior Alyssa Henline finished second on the team in kills and points, with 12 and 14, respectively. Her 21 digs were a season-high.
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Senior Mikala Perino (De Pere, Wis.) had 11 points, thanks in large part to eight kills and four total blocks, two of which were solo.
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Sophomore Katie Stonich (Sadieville, Ky.) had 10 kills and 12 digs.
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Senior Julia Beers (Mishawaka, Ind.) led the team with 24 digs.
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The team had seven service aces, three from Beers, two from Henline and two from junior Grace Heywood (Northbrook, Ill.).
It's a quick turnaround for the team, as they're back in action tomorrow in De Pere, Wis., to take on St. Norbert College. The game is scheduled for noon, and a link to the coverage can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
