River Forest, Ill. - The Concordia University Chicago (CUC) Cougars men's volleyball team stayed at home to host the Maroon and Gold Tri on Valentine's Day. The Cougars competed in two games, first the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Pointers, and second the Roosevelt University Lakers. In the first game against, the two teams competed hard where they went into five sets of play. Unfortunately, even with trades of the lead, the Cougars fell 3-2. In the second game, the Cougars and Lakers went to four sets where the Cougars won 3-1 and split on the day.
Game One
Inside the Box Score
- Elijah Mosher (Clayton, Ohio) hit his 2,000 assist in this game with 43 assists and 13 digs.
- Tyler Holubek (New Lenox, Ill.) had a monstrous offensive day in the first game with a whopping 27 kills. Holubek also had 11 digs.
- Marcin Hoffman (Inverness, Ill.) and Tristan Caminar (Bolingbrook, Ill.) each hit double digits with 11 and 10 kills respectively.
- Defensively, Van Gaetto (Darien, Ill.) had 15 digs.
Here's What Happened
Set One
The Cougars earned an early 4-1 lead, led by kills all from Holubek.
The Pointers gained a pair of points but the Cougars still kept their lead, where the score was 7-3. Though the Pointers started out slow, they quickly found their rhythm and not only came back but gained their first lead of the game, where the score was 11-9, Pointers. After a block from the Cougars and hitting error from the Pointers, the Cougars found themselves tied up at 11. The Pointers regained the lead after kills and a pair of blocks, but the Cougars continued to fight back where they were trailing 16-14, Pointers.
The two teams exchanged points until the end of the set where the deficit remained at two points and the Cougars continued to trail. Heading into the second set, the final score was 25-23, Pointers.
Set Two
The Cougars came out HOT in the second half with an early 4-0 lead. The two teams exchanged points until the Cougars went on a three-point run led by kills from Caminar and Holubek where the Cougars increased their lead to six. With the score at 16-10, the Cougars held a comfortable lead.
The Cougars only allowed seven more points in the set, where heading into set three, the Cougars took set two, 25-17. Heading into set three, each team had a set win under their belt.
Set Three
The Cougars quickly fell behind at the beginning of set three, but a kill by Caminar put the Cougars on the board in the third, where score was 3-1, Pointers. From there, the Cougars had a pair of two-point runs which brought them into a tie 5-5 game.
The Pointers gained one more point but the Cougars took over with kills by Caminar and Holubek to pull them into the lead with the score at 10-7, the Cougars. The Cougars and Pointers continued to go point-for-point and the Cougars maintained their lead the entire time, where they continued the winning streak taking set three, 25-23. Heading into set four the Cougars were up 2-1.
Set Four
The Pointers were the team to go on the scoreboard first, however, the Cougars were unfazed by the deficit and came back, gaining momentum, the Cougars not only went on a run, but took the lead. With kills by Holubek, the Cougars led 10-9. After an exchange of points, the Cougars found themselves trailing 16-13, but an ace from Hoffman started what would be a three point run allowing the Cougars to tie it up at 16.
Unfortunately, the Pointers only allowed the Cougars three more points in the set. Taking set four and heading into a fifth set, the final score was 25-19 pointers.
Set Five
The fifth set was a true battle amongst two teams fighting for a win. The Cougars took the lead at 7-4, but after switching sides, the Pointers took over. A momentum change in the Pointers favor allowed the Pointers to take over the lead where the score was 9-8. The Cougars were able to tie the score up at 10, and even took the lead off an error.
The score was now 11-10, in favor of the Cougars, but the two teams continued the fight. With the Pointers one point away from victory, the Cougars took a timeout. Out of timeout, an error by the Pointers and an ace for Holubek tied the game back up at 14 each. However, the Pointers went on a 2-0 run to finish off the game. With the final score of 16-14, the Pointers took the game 3-2.
Game Two
Inside the Box Score
- Tyrise Armstrong (Grayslake, Ill.) had a career high night with nine kills.
- Holubek had a respective night with nine kills and nine digs.
- Leon Gudzovski (Des Plaines, Ill.) dominated at the net with eight blocks at the net.
Here's What Happened
Set One
The Lakers kicked off the final game of the day with an early 3-0 lead, but the Cougars clawed their way back with a kill from Caminar and a block from Gudzovski and Hoffman. The Cougars allowed two consecutive kills for the Lakers but answered and tied the set up at five a piece. The two teams would exchange points but struggle to get many consecutive kills to go on a run. The Cougars found they were in an uncomfortable four-point deficit and took their first timeout in an attempt to reset.
The timeout proved successful and the Cougars went on a five-point run, highlighted by an ace by Jackson Stella and a block by Gudzonski and Mosher. With the score at 13-13, the two teams began to battle, going point-for-point until the Lakers pulled ahead by three at 20-17 forcing the Cougars into their second timeout of the set. The Cougars slowly caught themselves back up where we saw a tie game at 24 points each, automatically going into extra points in the first set. The Lakers took the final two points of the set where heading into set two the score was 26-24.
Set Two
The Cougars were on the board first and continued their lead, highlighting back-to-back kills for Stella earning an early 5-3 lead for the Cougars.
The Lakers tried their best to take control for every point they scored, the Cougars answered with two. This would continue until the Cougars went on what would be a four-point run pulling them into an eight-point lead. Highlighted in this lead would be kills from Tyrise Armstrong, Gudzovski, and Holubek, ace from Ayaaz Arif (Bolingbrook, Ill.) and block from the duo of Holubek and Stella. The score favored the Cougars at 19-12, and the Lakers only scored from a Cougar attack error.
The Lakers tried to comeback but the Cougar dominance of set one charged on. Maintaining the eight-point lead, the Cougars took set two with a final score of 25-17. Heading into set three, each team had won a set each.
Set Three
The Lakers started off the scoring in set three but it didn't take long for the Cougars to tie it back up at three a piece.
The two teams battled, exchanging points and kills until the Cougars had back-to-back kills, first by the duo of Gudzovski and Holubek, then followed directly after by Gudzovski and Armstrong. The blocking power of the Cougars sent the Lakers into their first timeout of the half where the Cougars led 11-8. The Cougar takeover continued until the end of the set where for every two to three points the Cougars scored, the Lakers scored once. Heading into the fourth set, the score was 25-16 and the Cougars were now up two sets to the Lakers one.
Set Four
The start of set four consisted of the teams going point-for-point until the Cougars took matters into their own hands and went on a 4-0 run, bringing the score to 15-8 and forcing the Lakers into their first timeout of the set. Out of timeout, the Cougars continued to increase their lead and finished the set with an eight-point lead. Taking set four, and winning three straight, the Cougars ended the night with a win heading into the weekend, where the final score was 25-17.
What's Next
The Cougars will open conference play on the road where they will take on Rockford University, Tuesday, February 18th, with first serve set for 7:00 pm. Coverage for all things CUC men's volleyball can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
