River Forest, Ill. - The Concordia University Chicago women's volleyball team hosted the Maroon and Gold Tri at home in Geiseman Gymnasium. It was an early start to the morning with a 10:00 start, but the Cougars proved they could win at any time of the day. The Cougars dominated their first game against the Blackburn Beavers, winning 3-0. In their second game of the day against the Fontbonne Griffins, the Cougars had to work for every point and were able to come out on top, winning 3-1.
Game One: CUC vs Blackburn 3-0 W
Inside the Box Score:
- Brooke Christensen (Blaine, Minn.) led the way for the Cougars in game one by smashing down 15 kills.
- Neva Foster (Parker, Colo.) was able to bring down 14 kills.
- Bethany Roethel (Westby, Wis.) brought in 14 digs from game one.
- Malainna Adler (Fenton, Mo.) had 34 assists, 10 digs, and 3 aces.
How it happened:
Set One
Game one started off with the Cougars and the Beavers sharing back-and-forth points. However, the Cougars decided sharing isn't caring today, and went on a 5-point run, led by Jessalyne Perkins (Chicago, Ill.) who got 4 of the 5 points off of aces, making the score 8-5, in favor of the Cougars. The Cougars let up slightly, allowing in a few points from the Beavers, but Foster subbed back into the game and immediately brought down a kill of her own, which was the start of another 5-point run for the Cougars, bringing the score to 13-7, and increasing the Cougar lead to 7. After another round of back-and-forth action, a combination of a kill from Christensen and ace from Micaela Barraza (Cape Coral, Fla.) brought the lead for the Cougars up to 8, where the score was now 18-10.
Set one was a multitude of 2-point runs by both teams, but the lead from the Cougars was too great for the Beavers to come back from. The Cougars took set one 25-17.
Set Two
Set two started off very similar to the first, where the Cougars and Beavers shared a few points, but it didn't take long for Christensen of the Cougars to bring down a kill, followed by Foster bringing down 2 kills, and Adler with a sneaky dump to increase the Cougar lead to 6, making the score 8-2.
The Beavers tried to respond to the Cougar lead with a few kills of their own, but Perkins brought down a kill, and Foster brought down another two, the score was now 12-6, Cougars in the lead. The Beavers slowly chipped away at the lead after a pair of kills, but from a Beaver overpass, Eve Dicken (St. Louis, Mo.) was able to do a huge smackdown kill for the Cougars, bringing the score to 16-13, in favor of the Cougars.
The Cougars stood their ground and only allowed the Beavers to score three more points in set two. The Cougars finished set two with a 5-point scoring run, finalizing the score of set two to 25-16. The Cougars took set two and were now up 2-0.
Set Three
It probably came of no surprise to see set three start out with a little bit of point exchanges, but what happened next wasn't the same as what we had seen in the previous sets. Blackburn came out hot in set three and went on a 6-point scoring run, where they led by 5 points, making the score 10-5, in favor of the Beavers. The Cougars made it clear they would give everything they had to come back and that's just what they did. The Cougars wasted no time and quickly responded with a 4-point and 5-point run, led by kills from Christensen, Foster, and Harmonie Cooper (Chicago, Ill.), as well as 2 blocks from the dynamic duo Dicken and Cooper, where the score was now 16-14, now favoring the Cougars.
The Beavers refused to give up without a fight, the two teams shared back-and-forth 2-point runs until the last point of the match. Although it was a hearty battle until the very end of set three, the Cougars held their ground and took set three with a final score of 26-24. Cougars took game one of the Maroon and Gold Tri 3-0.
Game Two: CUC vs Fontbonne 3-1 W
Inside the Box Score:
- Freshman Foster took over for the Cougars and brought down 17 kills in game two.
- Christensen brought down 14 kills.
- Janelle White (Morton Grove, Ill.) did not let the ball touch the floor and was able to get 28 digs, as well as 2 assists.
- Adler had 45 assists, 13 digs, and 3 aces.
How it happened
Set One
Set one of game two started out strong for the Cougars as they were able to have a lead to start. While they had a 3-point lead, it didn't take long for the Griffins to respond. It wasn't until the Cougars had a Cooper and Adler block, and Perkins block and ace that the Cougars were able to gain a small lead, where the score was 10-5. After a kill from the Griffins, the Cougars responded with two kills, but this time from Cooper, and another from Lili Hunt (Greenfield, Ind.). This led to an increased lead of 7 points, favoring the Cougars.
The Griffins were able to chip away at the point deficit until they found they had tied the score up, but were never able to take the lead, the score was 16-16 respectively. Cougars Christensen and Foster took over yet again and were able to pull the Cougars into a 4-point lead, making the score 20-16.
The Griffins found that they were able to keep the point deficit to two, but unfortunately for them, that's all you need to win. It was a battle until the very end, but the Cougars took set one of game two with a final score of 25-23.
Set two
Similar to set one, set two started with a Cougar lead of 3-0 led by a kill from Christensen and a block by Hunt and Cooper.
After a battle of shared points, the Griffins found themselves in a 4-point run followed by a 5-point run which brought them into the lead by 1-point where the score was now 14-13, in favor of the Griffins. Set two was filled with sharing points and several lead changes. It was such a hard fought battle that set two went into extra points. Nevertheless, the Cougars came out on top yet again, with the final point as a kill from Perkins, making the final score of set two 27-25, Cougars.
Set Three
Set three was the definition of a nail-biter. The teams stayed consistent throughout the entire set, sharing points. Early in the set a solo block from Perkins brought the score to an even 2 points a piece for each team.
Neither team was able to achieve a larger run than 3-points except for the Griffins that were able to achieve a 5-point run near the end of the set, where the score was 21-15, in favor of the Griffins. After the 5-point run, the Cougars didn't find the momentum they needed to comeback and ultimately fell to the Griffins in set three with a final score of 25-20. As both teams headed into set four, it was 2-1, in favor of the Cougars.
Set Four
The set featured back-and-forth action throughout, with both teams showcasing their skills. A Perkins kill was the beginning of a 3-point run that would bring the Cougars ahead by 2, where the score was 11-9.
The Cougars were able to achieve a 4-point run, followed by a 2-point run a few plays later. The highlights of these runs were kills from Foster, Perkins, and Hunt, aces from Adler, and a block from Perkins, the was score 21-18, favoring the Cougars.
The match was undoubtedly a seesaw battle, with momentum shifting back and forth. However, the Cougars' ability to maintain their composure and execute key plays in the final set proved to be the difference. The Cougars took set four with a final score of 25-21, and took game two of the day 3-1.
The Cougars will take a few days off from games but will be back in action on Friday, September 13th for the Marilyn Scribner Invitational. Opening serve is set for 6:30 pm in Wheaton, Ill. Coverage for this game and all CUC Women's Volleyball games can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
