WHEATON, ILL. — Day two of the Wheaton College Invitational has passed for the Concordia University Chicago (CUC) women's volleyball team. They had two separate matches on this busy Saturday, which resulted in a split overall for the Cougars squad. Against Maryville College, the Cougars defeated the Scots 3-0, but then fell to the Manchester University Spartans 3-0 this afternoon.
Game One: vs. Maryville College 3-0 W
Inside the Box Score:
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Grace Heywood (Northbrook, Ill.) continues her dominance at the net, as she led the team with 15 kills
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Libero Shaira Marin (Rio Grande, Puerto Rico) picked up a solid 11 digs in this match
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Both Katie Haidl (St. Charles, Ill.) and Heywood had two service aces apiece
The Scots would be the ones to truly strike first and began the game with a 3-1 lead. This lead would remain until a string of points were put together by the Cougars. Two service aces from Heywood and kills from Isabelle Vernengo (Plainfield, Ind.), Kirsten Bockhorst (Union, Mo.), and Rachel Livesay (Medinah, Ill.) would bring CUC to a 8-6 lead. Kills from Akasia Brown (Addison, Ill.) and Vernengo would also add on, along with a Haidl service ace to make the score 13-9 CUC.
Maryville was not fully deterred by the CUC offense and came to just a point deficit at 13-12. Heywood would slam one down on the Scots and make sure the Cougars kept their lead at 17-15. This would spark a huge rally, as CUC took the score to 24-18. This was thanks to kills from Brown and Livesay and a Brown-Vernengo block. The Scots would begin to fight back, but the Cougars knocked in their final point to win the set 25-22.
Set two would begin similarly to the beginning of the game, as Maryville took a quick 3-0 lead. The Scots would keep this lead, despite kills brought down by Lili Hunt (Greenfield, Ind.) on a couple of separate occasions at 11-9. A Vernengo kill and Marin service ace then tied the game up at 11-11. The Cougars would finally find themselves out in front thanks to a Livesay kill with a score of 18-17.
The battle was far from over with both opponents trading off points for the remainder of set two. Bockhorst and Heywood would, again, make a presence at the net with multiple kills to keep CUC on the front line. Finally, the Cougars would take set two with a score of 25-22.
With a substantial lead intact, the Cougars went flying into the third set and quickly took a lead of 10-3. Both Heywood and Bockhorst would be huge contributors on the offensive side and converted their points for CUC. Hunt would also join the party and take the Cougar lead all the way to 14-6.
Livesay and Brown would bring their own power to the conversation and take the score to 20-11. With a healthy lead, Elise Klinger (Tawas City, Mich.) would see some action and helped Heywood slam some points down as well. This duo would be who nailed the win down with a set three score of 25-23. The Cougars would defeat the Scots with a final score of 3-0.
Game Two: vs. Manchester University 3-0 L
Inside the Box Score:
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Heywood led the offense for the second time today with 10 kills
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As the assist queen of this Cougar team, Vernengo totaled 28 assists in game two
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Early in her freshman season, Bockhorst had a career-high of three blocks in this game
Manchester was strong in their presence, as they began with a 5-1 lead to start the game. The Cougars would begin to creep up on the Spartans lead, as Heywood and Livesay would contribute kills at 11-6. This lead would lessen, thanks to kills from Brown, Heywood, and Hunt to make it 18-14. CUC then had a Livesay-Bockhorst block, Brown kill, and Emma Schnegelberger (Dallas, Texas) service ace to make the score 18-17. The Cougars would be on the come back. However, Manchester would continue their dominance and won the first set with a score of 25-23.
The beginning of set two was a back and forth battle, up until a tie of 6-6. The Cougars would break free on a streak of four points, including two Hunt kills, at 10-6. Manchester would begin their rebuttal and went on a streak of their own to tie the game back up at 16-16. Bockhorst entered the chat to begin a Cougar rally and bring the score up to a CUC lead of 22-20. However, the Spartans swiftly took the game back and made a five-point rally to win set two 26-24.
The third set of this game began just like the last, with a fierce battle of these two competitors until a tied score of 5-5. Manchester took a large lead of 9-5 and CUC was met with the difficulties of trying to get the momentum back. As the Spartans pulled away to 14-8, Kate Foley (Milwaukee, Wis.) would shine with a kill of her own. Unfortunately, this would be short lived, as Manchester took the score to 21-11. Kills from Hunt and Foley would try to start a comeback, but it would be too late in this match for the Cougars. They fell to the Spartans with a final score of 3-0.
The Cougars will be back at home on Thursday night, as they host Rockford University at 7 p.m. Come out to Geiseman in your best boots and cowboy hats, as it will Country Night! Coverage for all of our sports can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
