Rockford, Ill. - The Concordia University Chicago (CUC) Cougars men's volleyball team opened Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference (NACC) play where they traveled to Rockford to take on the Rockford Regents. In a three set battle, the Cougars swept the Regents.
Inside the Box Score:
- Marcin Hoffman (Inverness, Ill.) and Tyler Holubek (New Lenox, Ill.) led the Cougar offense with 14 kills each.
- Elijah Mosher (Clayton, Ohio) had another strong night contributing 36 assists and seven digs, and a block.
- Amongst all Cougars, the team served seven aces.
Here's What Happened
Set One
The Regents were the first on the board but it didn't take long for Michael Cardines (Chicago, Ill.) with a service ace and Holubek with a kill to bring the Cougars ahead by four, and the score at 5-1.
The Regents tried to comeback but the Cougars silenced their efforts with kills by Hoffman and Holubek. The Cougars were in an early 11-5 lead and forced the Regents into their first timeout of the night. Out of timeout the Regents capitalized with a kill but the Cougar dominance charged on where Jackson Stella (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) and Mosher joined an ace heavy first set by the Cougars. Leading 17-9 over the Regents, the Cougars would exchange point for point until the Cougars reached their 23rd point forcing the Regents to take their second timeout of the set. To finish off the set, Hoffman and Holubek called the first set with a pair of monstrous kills.
Cougars took set one where the final score was 25-17.
Set Two
The Cougars carried over the first set onto the second where a compilation of kills brought them into a 6-1 lead forcing the Regents into yet another timeout on the night. The Regents quickly flipped the momentum in their favor and came back within two with the score at 10-8, forcing the Cougars to take their first timeout of the night.
A service ace from Ayaaz Arif (Bolingbrook, Ill.) was the last point earned for the Cougars before the Regents tied up the game at 15 a piece and forced the Cougars to take their final timeout of the set. Kills by Tyrise Armstrong (Grayslake, Ill.), Hoffman, Mosher, and Leon Gudzovski (Des Plaines, Ill.) were answered by kills from the Regents, but a kill by Holubek brought the Cougars one point away from taking set two, where the score was 24-23. The Regents took their final timeout of the set but one final ace by Arif would send the game into set three where the final score was 25-23 and the Cougars were up 2-0.
Set Three
There was a different flow to set three as the Regents came out hot and remained in control of nearly half the set.
With the score at 12-8, favoring the Regents, the Cougars took a timeout to regroup. Out of timeout the teams would continue to exchange points until back-to-back kills by Hoffman and Holubek tied the game back up at 14 a piece and the Cougars sent Rockford into timeout.
Coming out of timeout, the two teams continued to exchange points and leads within the set, where both teams took their final timeouts of the set. The Cougars were down one after the final timeout by Rockford but pulled off a 4-0 run and took set three with a final score of 25-22.
What's Next
The Cougars will be back in action Saturday, February 22nd for another round of NACC play where they will host the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) with the first serve set for 1:00 pm. Coverage for all things CUC men's volleyball can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
