MILWAUKEE, WIS. — Today marked the first time in school history that the Concordia University Chicago (CUC) men's volleyball team played in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) tournament. In a revenge match against the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), CUC came out to make them pay. The Cougars swept the Raiders handedly with a score of 3-0.
Inside The Box Score:
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Luke Vozenilek (Westmont, Ill.) led the offensive power with a total of 13 kills and Tyler Holubek (New Lenox, Ill.) followed behind him with 10
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Andrej Moller (Naperville, Ill.) was a wall at the net as he tallied four total blocks
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Keeping the ball off the court was Blake Rosen (Aldie, Va.) with 14 digs
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David Vales (Oak Forest, Ill.) and Elijah Mosher (Clayton, Ohio) had multiple service aces, making three and two, respectively
Set One
For loyal Cougar fans, they will remember the regular season game against MSOE. It was clear going into today's match, that the teams were ready to bring it all in the NACC tournament. The Cougars started off hot with a Vozenilek kill and back-to-back service aces from Vales to make it 3-0. Mosher and Holubek would also join in on the fun as the two rivals became locked in battle, making it 7-4 in favor of the Cougars.
Holubek and Mosher would pick up back-to-back kills and take their set one lead up to 9-5. A kill from Vales and Moller would also help bring some points to CUC, but MSOE would respond aggressively. They went on a five-point rally and ended up taking the lead at 13-11. After some fighting to get back in front, including another Holubek kill, the Cougars would finally find their opportunity.
They would tie up the game off of a Holubek kill and a Moller block to make it 18 apiece. The Cougars finally took the lead and would keep it after some Raiders miscues. CUC went on a four-point rally to end the first set with a score of 25-22.
Set Two
Winning the first set was extremely important for CUC to gain the upperhand. In set two, they capitalized this with a Colby Campbell (Brookfield, Ill.) kill, a block from Campbell and Vozenilek, and a Mosher service ace. With the score at 5-3 in favor of the Cougars, the Raiders rallied to take the lead back 7-5. With the Raiders still in front, Moller would have back-to-back blocks, first a solo and then another with Vales.
Still behind 11-10, CUC was in need of some momentum changers. They would take the lead back off of some Vozenilek and Holubek kills and a Vales service ace 13-12. They would stay in the lead and Campbell and Mosher would help to bring the score to 17-14. In response, MSOE would find themselves tying up the score 17-17. However, Holubek responded with two kills and brought the ball back into the Cougars hands.
With the Raiders right on their tail, they would capitalize off of MSOE's mistakes and take set two with a score of 25-21.
Set Three
The Cougar faithful would start to be sensing some deja vu going into set three. However, it was clear from the start that CUC was not ready to repeat what happened in regular season play. They quickly went up 3-0 off kills from Vozenilek and Moller. Holubek would get another one in and the Cougars were still leading 7-5. The Raiders began to make more mistakes and brought the Cougars all the way to 12-9.
This is where CUC made their stand to take the game. A five-point rally was made from a Campbell and Vozenilek team up to make it 17-9 CUC. Vales sent another one down and the Cougars found themselves within five points of the NACC semifinals.
Back-to-back kills from Vozenilek brought the score to 24-17 CUC. The final nail in the coffin came from a Moller and Vozenilek block and the Cougars made a clean sweep with a score of 25-18. The Cougars decimated MSOE with a final score of 3-0.
The Cougars are not done yet as they head to the #1 seed, Benedictine University, on Thursday. They will face off against the Eagles at 7 p.m. Coverage for all of our sports can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
