NAPERVILLE, ILL. — After a lot of conference action these past couple of weeks, the Concordia University Chicago (CUC) women's volleyball traveled to North Central College (NCC) to battle the Cardinals. With a lengthy battle held in the second set, the Cougars were unable to defeat the Cardinals and lost 3-0.
Inside the Box Score:
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Grace Heywood (Northbrook, Ill.) led the way on offense with 11 kills
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Leading in both assists and digs, Isabelle Vernengo (Plainfield, Ind.) had 24 assists and eight digs
Set One
Starting the game off, the Cougars were able to find some Cardinal court. Both Vernengo and Heywood would break off some kills, but the Cardinals would have the lead 7-2. NCC would continue their domination, despite a CUC sub, to take the score to 11-2. Capitalizing off of some Cardinal miscues, Eve Dicken (St. Louis, Mo.) would get her opportunity for a kill, but NCC still led 16-6.
Akasia Brown (Addison, Ill.) and Heywood would serve up back-to-back kills to try and turn the tide, but the Cardinals responded immediately 20-9. Unfortunately, the Cougars were unable to stop the rally of points and lost the first set 25-10.
Set Two
Fired up from the first set, the Cougars were ready to start a battle in set two. Brown and Heywood would be the catalysts to this success and have the score tied 5-5. The Cardinals then went on a five-point rally to take the lead 10-5. Kirsten Bockhorst (Union, Mo.) would get a kill after catching NCC off guard, but they still led 14-9.
Lili Hunt (Greenfield, Ind.) and Rachel Livesay (Medinah, Ill.) got in on the action with two kills and a service ace to make it 17-13 NCC. Then, a Heywood kill and Charissa Lind (St. Charles, Mo.) service ace would bring the Cougars even closer 20-17.
Heywood would try to find the momentum to take a CUC lead, but NCC would take set three with a score of 25-19.
Set Three
This set would leave it all on the line for the Cougars, as they fought to stay in this game. Heywood would start off with a kill to get it going, but the Cardinals were starting hot in this set 6-2. Brown picked up a kill, followed by a Vernengo kill and Livesay service ace to make it 9-6 NCC. The Cardinals went on a huge string of points to pull away 20-7.
Trying to start a rally, the Cougars would pick up a string of three points off of Hunt and Brown kills 22-12. Unfortunately, the Cardinals took over the final rally and won the set 25-14. CUC lost this battle with NCC with a final score of 3-0.
The Cougars will not be slowing down their action, as they host the Milwaukee School of Engineering tomorrow at 5 p.m. Come out to Geiseman to celebrate Senior Day and cheer on the Cougars to wrap up Student Athlete Mental Health Week. Coverage for all of our sports can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
