River Forest, Ill. - The Concordia University Chicago (CUC) Cougars women's volleyball team had their home opener where they hosted the Blackburn College Beavers. After three sets of intense play, the Cougars swept the Beavers 3-0.
Â
Inside the Box Score:
- Lili Hunt (Greenfield, Ind.) led the Cougar offense with 15 kills and following closely behind her was Indiah Day (Merrillville, Ind.) who smashed 11 of her own.
- Rachel Livesay (Medinah, Ill.) commanded the court in both the front and back court where she had nine kills along with nine digs.
- Harmonie Cooper (Chicago, Ill.) was a wall where she had three solo blocks to defend the net.
- Malainna Adler (Fenton, Mo.) and Eva Fitzgerald (Houston, Texas) had all-around great play where Adler had 24 assists, 10 digs, and two aces, and Fitzgerald had 15 assists and four aces.
- Janelle White (Morton Grove, Ill.) defended the back court and led the day with 18 digs.Â
Â
Here's What Happened:
Set OneÂ
The Beavers were on the board first with a kill but the Cougars quickly responded with a kill of their own by Hunt. The Beaver offense then went on a 6-2 run where the two points for the Cougars were thanks to kills by Day. The Cougars trailed but not by much with the score at 6-3. Cooper would get two blocks to aid in the deficit, but the Beavers would continue their offensive run where they went 10-5, and increased the lead to 15-6. In a complete 180 turn around, the Cougar offense erupted where Hunt had three kills, Day had two, Jordan Brown (Bensenville, Ill) added a kill, and Fitzgerald had back-to-back aces to bring the Cougars within three where the score was 17-14.
The Cougars claimed the momentum to remain on their court and kills by Cooper, Livesay, and Brown as well as a Cooper block would be enough for the Cougars to take the lead for the first time in the set where the score was 20-18. From there, the teams would trade off kill for kill, but one final kill for Hunt would claim the first set for the Cougars. With the final score of the set at 25-22, the Cougars were up 1-0.
Â
Set Two
Opposite from the first set, the Cougars had back-to-back kills thanks to Hunt and McKayla LeVoy (Kankakee, Ill.) to claim early dominance in set two. The Cougars would go on to advance their lead with kills by Day and Brown, as well as back-to-back aces by Fitzgerald, making the score 8-4. The Beavers had a small takeover where they had six unanswered points to gain the lead, but the lead did not last as the Cougars went on a 7-0 run to reclaim the lead and brought the score to 17-13.
The teams would finish the set similar to the first exchanging kill for kill. The Cougars finalized the set with a pair of kills from Cooper and Livesay making the final score 25-19. Heading into set three the Cougars led 2-0.
Â
Set Three
Hoping to get ahead early, the Beavers obtained a 2-0 lead but it didn't last long because Day, Livesay, and Hunt for the Cougars came with kills and an ace to gain a 6-2 lead. The Beavers went on a brief 5-0 run to make the score 9-8 in their favor, but Hunt quickly tied the score back up with a kill. After a few back-and-forth exchanges, the Cougars went on to score six unanswered points, regaining the lead at 17-11. The Beaver tried to counter the run, but with the Cougars going on a 3-0 run, followed by an 8-0 run, their dominance prevailed. The final score of set three was 25-15 and the Cougars swept the Beavers 3-0.
Â
What's Next
The team will take a six-day break from competition before they travel to Wheaton Illinois to participate in the Marilyn Scribner Invitational with game one set for 4:00 pm on Friday, September 12. Coverage for all things CUC women's volleyball can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.Â
