River Forest, Ill. - The Concordia University Chicago (CUC) women's volleyball team enjoyed playing on their home court for the first time in over three weeks, being matched against their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference rival, the St. Norbert College Green Knights (2-15). The Cougars would drop the first set, but answer back right away, taking the next two and ultimately leaving with the victory after a back-and-forth battle that would go to five sets.
Inside the Box Score:
- Neva Foster (Parker, Colo) and Indiah Day (Merrillville, Ind.) lead the team with 17 kills apiece. Foster chipped in on defense as well, with two block assists and two digs. Day also had two block assists, partnered with 11 digs on the day.
- Rosemary Brenner (Frankenmuth, Mich.) contributed greatly on defense with 24 digs, as well as a kill and two assists.
- Jessalyne Perkins (Chicago, Ill.) came away with eight kills, three block assists, and two digs as well.
Here's What Happened
Set One
The first set saw the Cougars and Green Knights keep the score close. The Cougs would get on the board by taking advantage of a service and attack error. Day's first kill of the day would give the Cougars a quick 5-3 lead. St. Norbert answered swiftly with an ace and kill to retake the lead. The Cougars biggest lead of the set would come after two kills from Day and one from Perkins
to put them up 10-8. However, the Green Knights would swiftly respond and score 10 before the Cougars could score on consecutive scores. Down 20-14, the Cougs put together a rally with two kills from Foster, however that would not be enough as St. Norbert would pull away and take set one 25-20, moving to set two 1-0.
Set Two
The second set would be another close battle, as both teams refused to give up. St. Norbert jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead after a couple kills and an ace, followed by the Cougars scoring twice on a pair of Green Knight errors. After going down 7-9, the Cougs put together a significant rally, scoring on six consecutive serves thanks to attack errors and a kill from
Harmonie Cooper,
(Chicago, Ill.) to put them up 14-9. While the Cougs wouldn't fall behind for the rest of this set, the Green Knights put up a good fight, tying the score at 20 apiece. The Cougs would finish off St. Norbert with a block from Cooper
and Foster, making the final score 25-23 and advancing both teams to set three 1-1.
Set Three
The third set was dominated by Concordia, even though they went down early. Facing a three point deficit, the Cougs scored four times consecutively on kills from Brenner and
Foster
. Although the Green Knights fought back to bring the score within one, the Cougs would run away and not look back, scoring eight consecutive times to bring the score to 17-8 thanks to attack errors, an ace, and kills from Cooper and
Day
. The Cougs would battle to finish off the third set, but would come out on top after a short lived rally from the Green Knights, as
Beatriz Goncalves (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) would end the set with a kill, bringing the Cougs victorious 25-17 and moving them to set three 2-1.
Set Four
On the brink of elimination, the St. Norbert Green Knights would dominate set four, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead and refusing to lose the lead the entire set. A kill from
Brynn Icenogle, (Brentwood, Calif.) would bring the Cougars within three. Down 8-16, Concordia would put together consecutive scores thanks to a pair of errors and a service ace from Goncalves
, however, their efforts would not be nearly enough as St. Norbert would finish off the Cougs thanks to an attack error, coming out on top 25-16, moving both teams to 2-2 entering the win-or-go-home final set.
Set Five
The Cougars jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead with a kill from Foster and a St. Norbert error. However, the Green Knights would respond swiftly and eventually find themselves up 8-6 after scoring four consecutive times on errors and a kill of their own. The Cougs would flip the script down two and score seven consecutive times, thanks to numerous kills from
Foster, as well as one apiece from Goncalves and
Perkins
. Down to their final chance down 9-14, the Green Knights refused to go down without a fight, scoring twice, however, their hopes of a comeback would end swiftly as another kill from
Foster would bring the Cougars the win and second NACC conference victory of the season, finishing off St. Norbert 15-11.
Postgame Interview
What's Next
The Cougars move to 6-8 and will host another Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opponent, the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks (11-5), Wednesday, October 7th. The match will begin at 6 PM, and coverage for all things CUC women's volleyball can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
