RIVER FOREST, ILL. - The Concordia University Chicago women's volleyball team took the floor down the street to face their Division Street Rival in Dominican University, ultimately falling in four sets. 

INSIDE THE BOX
- Rachel Livesay (Medinah, Ill.) led the offensive efforts with 15 kills. 
- Jessalyne Perkins (Chicago, Ill.) had a strong day with two service aces and three blocks.
- Malainna Adler (Fenton, Mo.) led all players with 36 assists on the night.

HOW IT HAPPENED
SET ONE
The Stars struck first in set one, but a kill from Brooke Christensen (Blaine, Minn.) leveled the score. The Stars answered right back, but a kill from Eve Dicken (St. Louis, Mo.) once again evened things up. A 7-0 run in favor of the Stars would throw a wrench into the momentum and leave the Cougars with a rather large deficit to overcome. Kills from Bethany Roethel (Westby, Wis.) and Livesay would chip away at the difference, but still leave them trailing by four. 
 

Despite the Cougars scoring consistent points for the remainder of the set, they would be unable to overcome the large deficit, and fall 25-19 in set one. 

SET TWO
The Cougars would come out swinging in set two and jump out to a 2-0 lead after kills from Livesay and Roethel. With the Stars sneaking a few points in, a 4-0 run for the Cougars would propel them further ahead for their largest lead of the day thus far. 
 

The Stars would answer back with a 4-0 run of their own to even the score, but a kill from Christensen would break up their momentum. Dominican would have success in scoring consecutive points where Concordia rallied with lone points, which would leave them trailing by one as the scores hit above 20. A 3-0 run for the Stars would put them ahead 24-20, but a retaliation run from the Cougars would bring them within one. Unable to put the ball in play, the Cougars would hand over the final point of the set and fall behind 2-0 in the game overall. 
 

SET THREE
The Stars jumped out to a 2-0 lead to start the set, but a big time block from Christensen and Adler paired with a kill from Livesay would even things right back up. Exchanging a pair of points back-and-forth, the Cougars and the Stars would hang even until a 9-2 run in favor of CUC would break open the doors and send them up 19-13. 
 

With the Stars creeping up on the Cougars, a kill from Perkins paired with a service ace would bring them within one point of their first set victory of the night before the final dagger would come at the hands of Livesay, keeping the Cougars in the game for at least one more set. 
 

SET FOUR
The Cougars would find the scoreboard first in set four, but a 5-0 run for the Stars would put the Cougars down early. A block from Adler and Perkins paired with a kill from Livesay would bring them right back into the game. With both teams struggling to gain true momentum, the set would stay within a few points and see six ties throughout the set. The Cougars would last tie the set at 17 with a kill from McKayla LeVoy (Kankakee, Ill.) before the set would end with the Cougars scoring one point for every two the Stars scored.
 

The Cougars fall to 9-11 overall and 1-6 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) with six regular season games left to play. They'll next take the court for another rivalry matchup against their Rivals of the North, Concordia University Wisconsin. The Cougars host the Falcons on Saturday, October 19th with a noon opening serve. Coverage can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.