RIVER FOREST, ILL. – The Concordia University Chicago Cougars battled with the Benedictine University Eagles, falling in a four set battle. The Cougars fell 3-1 on Dig Pink night inside Geiseman Gymnasium.
INSIDE THE BOX
- Jackson Stella (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) led the offense with 16 kills while also picking up four digs and one service ace.
- Van Gaetto (Darien, Ill.) led the defense with 11 digs while also picking up three assists.
- Elijah Mosher (Clayton, Ohio) had himself a game with 27 assists, ten digs, two blocks, and one service ace.
SET ONE
The Cougars took a 2-1 lead early in the first set after a service ace from Mosher kicked things off. A 4-0 run from the Eagles would put the Cougars in a deficit, but a kill from Stella would break the dry spell and set the Cougars up for a 3-0 capped off by an ace from Stella.
Exchanging a few runs back-and-forth, the Eagles would jump out to a 19-11 lead before back-to-back kills from Stella would bring the Cougars within five.
Unable to come back from the deficit, the Cougars would fall in set one 25-18.
At the conclusion of set one, the team saw a brief pause as the campus of CUC went under a tornado warning that forced everyone to seek shelter as the weather passed.
SET TWO
Fresh out of the weather delay, the Eagles struck first before two kills from Stella would put the Cougars up for the first time of the game 3-2.
The Eagles would steal the next two points and jump ahead of the Cougars before a kill from Stella would break things up. Another three consecutive points for the Eagles would be stopped by a service error and give the Cougars a chance to build their comeback. A kill from Arif Ayaaz
() would hand control back over to the Cougars to score on three consecutive blocks to get Geiseman excited.
Exchanging points for the majority of the set, a 4-0 run from the Eagles to close the set would steal them the victory 25-19.
SET THREE
The Cougars once again fell behind early in the third set after the Eagles jumped ahead 4-2. A block from
Sean Beckman (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) and
Marcin Hoffman (Inverness, Ill.) would kick off the 4-0 run from the Cougars where Stella would pick up back-to-back kills and
David Vales (Oak Forest, Ill.) would add one himself.
Two more kills from Vales would put the Cougars up 11-7 while a 3-0 run for the Eagles would make it a one point game. Going on a 3-0 run of their own, the Cougars would jump back ahead 15-11. Exchanging a few points with a 3-0 run in favor of each team topped off by a sneaky kill from Mosher to put the Cougars up 20-17.
With back-and-forth points to end the set, the Cougars would find the 25 mark before the Eagles and force the game to another set.
SET FOUR
The Eagles would come out swinging in the fourth set, jumping out to a 9-0 lead before a service error would give the Cougars their first point of the set. Another 3-0 run for the Eagles would leave the Cougars trailing 12-1 early in the set. A big time kill from Stella would leave the Cougars trailing by ten.
A 3-0 run for the Cougars would be evened by a 3-0 run from the Eagles to make it a 17-6 score in favor of the Eagles. Two more 3-0 runs for the Eagles with two Cougar points in between would close the fourth set with a final score of 25-10.
The Cougars will be back in action on Thursday, February 29
th as they head up to Mequon, Wis. to take on Concordia University Wisconsin. Coverage can be found at cucougars.com.
