Wheaton, Ill. - The Concordia University Chicago (CUC) Cougars women's volleyball team headed to Wheaton College to participate in the two-day Marilyn Scribner Invitational. With day one underway, the team competed in their first game of the invitational against the Lawrence University Vikings. After four sets of intense play, the Cougars fell 3-1.
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Inside the Box Score:
- Indiah Day (Merrillville, Ind.) was the lone Cougar to reach double digits where she led the offense with 10 kills.Â
- Rachel Livesay (Medinah, Ill.) and Malainna Adler (Fenton, Mo.) each served three aces on top of Livesay's nine digs, and Adler's 24 assists in the game.
- Bethany Roethel (Westby, Wis.) led on the defensive end with 15 digs.
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Here's What Happened
Set One
The Vikings were on the board first after a missed serve by the Cougars but Livesay would quickly even the score at one a piece with the teams first kill of the day. The Cougars and Vikings would go on to exchange kill-for-kill where Cougars Day, McKayla LeVoy (Kankakee, Ill.), Beatriz Goncalves (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), and Ava Quevedo (Colorado Springs, Colo.) would all keep the Cougars close where the score was 10-9 favoring the Cougars before heading into the first timeout of the day taken by the Vikings. Out of timeout, the Vikings went on a quick run to tie the game at 12-12, forcing the Cougars to take their first timeout as well. Following this timeout, the teams would continue the trend of going point-for-point until Adler served up back-to-back aces, allowing the Cougars to pull ahead 23-21. Unfortunately, the Vikings pulled off a 5-1 run to take the first set 26-24. The Vikings led 1-0 going into set two.
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Set Two
The Cougars started set two with a 3-0 run where Livesay had back-to-back aces. The Cougars continued to share the wealth where Eva Fitzgerald (Houston, Texas) served an ace and LeVoy, Quevedo, and Neva Foster (Parker, Colo.) added kills to keep the Cougars in a 12-8 lead. From there, the Cougars maintained their lead which caused the Vikings to take their first timeout of the set. The Cougars led 15-12. Out of timeout, the Vikings slowly attacked at the point deficit until they were able to tie the game at 16 apiece, quickly forcing the Cougars to take their first timeout of the set. Out of timeout, the Cougars lit a fire and went on a 4-0 run led with kills by Fitzgerald and Foster to regain the lead at 20-16. The Vikings found a burst of momentum that would cause set two to go into extra points, but the Cougars fought on and with a final kill by Day, the Cougars took set two 27-25. Heading into set three, the teams were tied at one set each.
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Set Three
The set opened with the Cougars and Vikings exchanging point-for-point, matching the determination of the end of set two. It wasn't until a 7-0 run by the Vikings that would force the Cougars into a timeout where they trailed 15-9. Out of timeout, kills by Fitzgerald, Foster, and Lili Hunt (Greenfield, Ind.) would help the Cougars claw back, to trail by one with the score at 15-14, favoring the Vikings. The Cougars would attempt to continue their momentum but the Vikings had plans of their own. Despite the Cougars' efforts, the Vikings remained in the lead and took set three 25-20, the first set that did not go into extra points. After three sets of play, the Vikings led 2-1.
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Set Four
The Cougars struggled to get any offense going where the set was a quick 4-1 lead favoring the Vikings and the lone Cougar point was thanks to a service error by the Vikings. Day would try to chip away at the deficit with two kills, but the Vikings continued their momentum stretch until it was a tough 17-7 lead, forcing the Cougars into timeout. Out of timeout, the Cougars were only able to obtain four more points and fell 25-11.
What's Next
The Cougars will be back in action tomorrow, September 13, for day two of the Marilyn Scriber Invitational where they will take on the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Pointers at 10:00 AM and the Wheaton College Thunder at 3:00 PM. Coverage for all things CUC women's volleyball can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.Â
