Eureka, Ill. - The Concordia University Chicago Cougars (CUC) women's volleyball team was on the road to take on the Eureka College Red Devils for a midweek matchup. After four sets of play, the Cougars took the game 3-1.
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Inside the Box Score:
- Lili Hunt (Greenfield, Ind.) was the lone Cougar to reach double digits where she had 10 kills.Â
- Bethany Roethel (Westby, Wis.) and Eva Fitzgerald (Houston, Texas) had a combined 12 service aces where individually each had six.Â
- Fitzgerald also led in assists with 23 and added 11 digs for an all-around great game.Â
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Here's What Happened
Set One
The Red Devils were the first on the scoreboard but it didn't take long for the Cougars to get on the board with a kill by Harmonie Cooper (Chicago, Ill.). Following Cooper's kill, Indiah Day (Merrillville, Ind.) grabbed one of her own, Roethel had back-to-back aces, and Hunt smashed her first kill of the night. After this 5-0 run, the Cougars led 6-2. The two teams would exchange point-for-point until the Cougars would go on yet another run, this time unanswered kills by Neva Foster and Cooper would increase the lead to 16-7. The Red Devils would try to come back and even would have a four-point run of their own, but the Cougar lead would prove too strong and the cougars took set one 25-18.Â
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Set Two
The Cougars were on the board first but the Red Devils quickly answered with a 4-0 run where they took a 4-1 lead before Kate Foley (Milwaukee, Wis.) added a kill to put an end to the run. The Red Devils would regain momentum and increase their lead to as much as eight points where the Cougars would look for substitutions to make a change in the lineup. With the score at 10-2 favoring the Red Devils, Cougars Ava Quevedo (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Foster, as well as Rachel Livesay (Medinah, Ill.) would help the team get back with two points. After an abrupt momentum shift, the Cougars quickly found themselves in an 18-14 lead thanks to kills by Hunt and Livesay, as well as an ace by Fitzgerald. From there, the Cougar momentum charged on and sharing the wealth with kills by Hunt, Livesay, and Quevedo, as well as an ace by Cooper would allow the Cougars to take set two 25-18. The Cougars now led 2-0.Â
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Set Three
The Red Devils found themselves on the board early in set three where they took a 2-0 lead over, but the Cougars quickly came back responding off of an error by the Red Devils and an ace by Rosemary Brenner (Frankenmuth, Mich.) to tie the score at two apiece. From there, the teams would exchange two-point runs until the Red Devils increased the lead to as much as six points where the score was 13-7. Despite a 5-0 run by the Cougars to bring the deficit within three, the Red Devils maintained their momentum and took set three 25-19. Heading into set three, the Cougars led 2-1.Â
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Set Four
The Red Devils opened the fourth set with the same momentum that helped them take set three, where they went 2-0 early. The Cougars quickly clawed their way back to a tie game at two apiece before the Red Devils took the lead once again. Shifting the momentum back to the Cougars, Hunt took matters into her own hands and had a much needed kill followed by an ace, to tie the game up at four. From there, the Cougars and Red Devils would continue a trend of exchanging two-point runs, where lead changes continued until the Red Devils pulled ahead by the biggest lead of the set where the score was 12-9, but the three-point lead didn't last long because Cooper got a kill to take over momentum. The teams continued a back-and-forth exchange of points before the Cougars pulled into the lead with the score at 16-14, forcing the Red Devils to take a timeout. out of timeout Cooper served an ace, followed by two kills for the Cougars which increased the lead 19-14. The Red Devils were only able to score three more points in the set and with that the Cougars took set four 25-17. After four sets of play, the Cougars won 3-1.Â
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What's Next
The Cougars will have a quick turnaround as they will be back in action tomorrow on their home court against Lake Forest College with first serve set for 7:00 PM. Coverage for all things CUC women's volleyball can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
