Lisle, Ill. - The Concordia University Chicago (CUC) Cougars men's volleyball team took a short trip to Lisle Illinois to take on the Eagles of Benedictine University in yet another round of Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference play. After three consistent sets, the Cougars fell 3-0.
Inside the Box Score:
- The Cougar offense was led by Tyler Holubek (New Lenox, Ill.) and Alexander Ford (Skokie, Ill.) with 13 and 10 kills respectively. Holubek also had 12 digs on the night.
- Jackson Stella (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) highlighted three straight aces as well as added four kills.
- Elijah Mosher (Clayton, Ohio) had 30 assists, five digs, and one block, showing his all around strength.
Here's What Happened
Set One
The Cougars struck first with a kill by Leon Gudzovski (Des Plaines, Ill.), and was closely followed by a kill from Holubek. After an attack error from the Eagles, the Cougars quickly found themselves up 3-0.
After one final kill from Holubek to make the score 4-1 favoring the Cougars, the Eagles quickly came back and not only tied up, but took the lead at 8-5 forcing the Cougars to take their first time out of the set. Out of timeout, the Eagles continued their lead, but slowly by the efforts of Holubek and Ford the Cougars found themselves tied up at 15 apiece.
However, after the Eagles took charge of momentum once again they were the first to reach 20 points and the Cougars took another timeout. With the score at 20 to 17 the Cougars trailed and the Eagles only had five points to go in order to take the opening set. Out of timeout, Gudzovski scored one more kill for the cougars, but ultimately the Eagles maintained their lead and took set one with a final score of 25-20.
Set Two
The Eagles continued over the momentum from the first set onto the second and struck first however, the Cougars did not take long to tie it up at two apiece with a kill by Holubek. The Cougars went on a 4-0 run, which pulled them ahead by two with the score at 8-6 and forced the Eagles to take their first time out of the set.
Out of timeout the Cougars and the Eagles would go back-and-forth until the Eagles would find themselves in a four-point lead forcing the Cougars to take their first timeout of the set. With the score at 18-14, the Cougars looked to use the timeout as a reset. The efforts of Holubek and Ayaaz Arif (Bolingbrook, Ill.) with a kill and service ace would not be enough for the Cougars to pull off a comeback and they fell in the second set with the final score of 25-20, facing the Eagles.
The Eagles were now up 2-0 heading into set three.
Set Three
In the third set the Cougars struggled to find any sort of momentum in their favor until it was Stella's turn to serve. Stella's powerful serve brought the Cougars to tie the score up with the Eagles at nine apiece.
From there, the Cougars did not take the lead but stayed close behind the Eagles. The Cougars still were within two but with the Eagles hitting their 20th point in the third set, the Cougars took a timeout. The Cougars only scored once more with a kill by Ford. The final score was 25-19 with the Eagles taking all three sets.
What's Next
The Cougars will host the Concordia Wisconsin Falcons back at home on Friday, February 28th for one more conference game before taking a brief break from conference play. Coverage for all things CUC men's volleyball can be found at cougars.com/coverage.
