GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. — The Concordia University Chicago (CUC) men's volleyball took a trip for some non-conference action to take on the Calvin University Knights. After taking a swelling victory in the first set, the Cougars were unable to best the Knights and fell 3-1.
Inside the Box Score:
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David Vales (Oak Forest, Ill.) and Jackson Stella (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) led the offensive attack with 12 kills apiece
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Elijah Mosher (Clayton, Ohio) continues to have a stellar season at setter with 37 assists
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On the defensive end, Dionte Garcia (Aurora, Colo.) tacked on 13 digs
Set One
CUC went on a quick 6-2 lead to start the game, thanks to kills from Stella, Mosher, and Marcin Hoffman (Inverness, Ill.). However, the Knights quickly took the lead back with a five-point rally at 8-7. Vales snagged himself two kills, before gaining assistance from Timothy Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.) to take the lead back 12-11.
Momentum at their backs, Hoffman earned a service ace and a kill, along with another kill for Stella, to make the lead 16-12. Leon Gudzovski (Des Plaines, Ill.) joined the bunch, as the Cougars started to gain a healthy lead at 20-15. With the Knights trying to chip away, the Cougars would have a final kill from Vales to take a set one win 25-20.
Set Two
Looking to take another win in set two, CUC had a 4-1 start with more kills from Vales. Stella and Mosher stepped in to add points of their own, but Calvin started to creep their way back into the score at 9-7. After a Hoffman kill, the Knights were able to regain their lead at 14-13.
Calvin would snap ahead to a score of 17-14, however CUC was right on their heels. Vales and Johnson both would find court, followed by a Stella-Hoffman block, to cut the Knight lead to 21-19. However, Calvin kept the ball in their court and were able to steal a set two victory 25-20.
Set Three
With the game evened out to one win a piece, it became anyones' opportunity to take this victory. Calvin struck first with a starting score of 4-1. Stella and Hoffman would pick up another duo block, but the Knights kept a steady pace at 9-5. The Cougars would then tie up the score, courtesy of three back-to-back-to-back kills from Hoffman 9-9.
At this point, the two teams would volley the lead back and forth between one another, all the way to a tie of 18-18. Almost every hitter for the Cougars would pick up a kill within this series of points. Unfortunately, the Knights found their stride and were able to start a huge rally of points. Stella would try and break this up with a kill, but Calvin took set three with a score of 25-19.
Set Four
The Knights continued this chain of events into set four with a lead of 4-0. Stella and Mosher pushed for some more kills, but Calvin kept chugging along to 10-5. The trio of Stella, Hoffman, and Mosher truly took over the offense and set four, but Calvin kept their score ahead at 14-10.
Vales joined in to find some court, with Hoffman joining in as well, but the Cougars could not string these points together 19-15. Stella would, once again, try to break up the Knights rally, but it would be too late as they took the set 25-18. The Cougars would lose to the Knight in a final score of 3-1.
The Cougars have over a week off before playing again, next weekend, in the North Park Tri on Saturday, February 17th. They will first take on North Park University at 12 p.m. and then University of California, Santa Cruz at 2:30 p.m. Coverage for all of our sports can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
