RIVER FOREST, ILL. – The Concordia University Chicago men's volleyball team took to the home court for the first time since February 27
th to take on fellow Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) mate, the Edgewood College Eagles, falling 3-1.
INSIDE THE BOX
- Jackson Stella (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) led the offense with 18 kills and three service aces.
- Elijah Mosher (Clayton, Ohio) had another monstrous day picking up 42 assists.
- Van Gaetto (Darien, Ill.) and Leon Gudzovski (Des Plaines, Ill.) led the defense with 16 digs and three blocks, respectively.
SET ONE
The Eagles struck first quickly jumping out to a 3-0 lead that would be broken up by a kill from
Marcin Hoffman (Inverness, Ill.).
The Cougars and Eagles would battle back and forth with the Eagles mostly stealing every two points to the Cougars one. A four point stretch for the Eagles would put them ahead by five and hinder the Cougars' ability to recover.
SET TWO
Set two would start with a familiar tale as the Eagles would once again jump out to a 3-0 lead but this time it would be broke up with back-to-back kills from Stella. Another two kills from Stella and one from
Sean Beckman (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) would give tie things up and make the game go point-for-point. Exchanging points for the majority of the set, kills from Gudzovski and Stella would close the set with the 25-21 victory for the Cougars.
SET THREE
Continuing the trend of the match, the Eagles would once again jump to a hearty 4-0 lead to open the set. The Cougars wouldn't get their first kill of the set until a monster swing from Stella would make it a 6-2 set. Struggling to fine tune the little things, the Cougars would be plagued with ball handling errors and attack errors early in the set and fall behind 8-3. A big time swing from Stella would start the build back, but they would eventually fall in set three 25-20.
SET FOUR
Making a shift from the previous trends, the Cougars would pick up the first point of the fourth set. The Cougars would take a bigger lead early in the fourth set after kills from
David Vales (Oak Forest, Ill.) and Mosher would put them up 4-1.
Back-to-back aces from Stella would keep the Cougars ahead 10-6, but the Eagles would continue to attack. The Eagles would tie things up with the Cougars midway through the set, but eventually take the two point lead after a couple of missed attacks. Trailing for the first time of the set in the most crucial moments, the Cougars would ultimately not be able to catch back up and fall to the Eagles in set four 25-21, falling in the entire match 3-1.
The Cougars will be back in action Tuesday as they head to Aurora, Illinois to take on the Aurora Spartans as they continue NACCtion. Serve time is set for 7:00pm and coverage can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
