Concordia's McKenzie Rath collected a career-high 13 kills against the Beacons on Saturday.
Rath Rouses Cavaliers to 3-1 Win Over Beacons
PORTLAND, Ore.—Powered by a season and career-high 13 kills by McKenzie Rath, the Concordia University volleyball team outlasted Northwest Christian 3-1 (25-14, 18-25, 25-16, 28-26) in Cascade Collegiate Conference action on Saturday.
With the win, Concordia improved to 11-10 on the year and 7-5 in CCC play while NCU dropped to 8-12 overall and 2-10 in league action.
Rath and Mariana Toscano got the Cavalier attack off to quick start with a combined nine kills in the opening session. With 14 combined kills against a single error, CU fired for a .481 hitting percentage in the first set.
After a Cassie Bishop kill to make it 15-10 hole for NCU, Concordia responded with five straight points en route to the 25-14 finale.
With the aid of five aces and four kills by Brooke Stribling, the Beacons squared the match at 1-1 with a 25-18 win in the second set. NCU opened up a 7-1 lead out of the gate and would not allow the Cavs to pull to within less than three points the rest of set. After making a mini-run to get the deficit to 10-7 four attacking errors would doom the Cavaliers as the Beacons rolled to the win.
Reversing the start in the third set, Concordia received kills from three different attackers, including back-to-back kills by Jamie Richards to create a 6-0 lead. Consecutive aces by NCU’s Whitney Hoff would help get the Beacons to within one with the score 10-9, but the Cavaliers would prevent relinquishing its lead with a 10-3 run to finish off the set 25-16.
The fourth set would once again test the will of the Cavs as the Beacons rattled off six straight points to turn a three-point deficit into a three-point lead with the score 24-21. Facing set point, the Cavs would get a kill by Skyler Kamaka before a pair of attacking errors knotted the set at 24-24.
The two teams would trade the next four points before Fryer finished the match with two of her 11 kills for the 28-26 win.
“It was really important for us to get the win tonight. Although you never want to see things that close, it was a key for us to display the kind of determination that we showed to finish out the fourth set,” Concordia head coach Christopher Duenow said.
Stribling connected for a match-high 15 kills off of 46 attempts. Kamaka led the floor with 39 assist. NCU’s Mercedes LeClaire posted a match-high 18 digs while CU had three players reach double figures in the category, including 16 by junior libero Kim Lindow.
Concordia resumes play at Evergreen State on Oct. 17 wit a 7 p.m. match in Olympia, Wash.