Raluca Dinca posted a 'double-double'with 16 kills and 11 assists for the Cavs against the Pioneers on Tuesday.
Pioneers Sweep CU on the Road to Avenge Home Loss
PORTLAND, Ore. – After being defeated on their home court less than a week ago, Lewis & Clark came back with a three-game sweep of Concordia (25-21, 25-22, 25-23) at the Cavalier Gymnasium in non-conference volleyball action on Tuesday night.
With the result, Concordia dropped to 4-5 on the year while L&C improved to 3-4. The Cavaliers will next compete on Friday, Sept. 11 when it travels to another cross-town foe as they take on Warner Pacific. Lewis & Clark will get an earlier shot against the Knights as they the Pioneers travel to Warner Pacific for a Wednesday match.
Concordia out-hit, out-blocked and out-dug the Pioneers but were doomed by 10 costly service errors in the three close games.
The Cavs held an 11-9 lead in the opener before L&C went on a 7-to-2 run for a three-point advantage. The home squad would come back to tie the game at 20-20, but a pair of kills by Margaret Dowling (Burlingame, Calif.) and Jessamy Holland (Honolulu, Hawaii) would seal the initial game for the Pioneers.
In the second, neither team would generate more than a three-point lead as CU would grab advantages with the score 7-4 and again at 10-7 while Lewis & Clark would return for leads with the score 17-14 and 18-15. Just as in the first, the second game would find itself tied at 20, but would get nodded again at 21 and 22 all before the visiting Pioneers made the final push with the concluding three point, two of which came via CU errors.
After five early ties, the Cavaliers finally found some momentum in the third by creating a 19-14 gap thanks to seven third-game kills by Mariana Toscano (Portland, Ore.) and five more from Raluca Dinca (Portland, Ore.), but the Pioneers would rally with another 7-to-2 run to square the game at 21-21 and finally ending the match with four of the next six points, including a kill from Sarah Hall (Vancouver, Wash.) and an ace from Dowling.
Dinca and Toscano each recorded 16 kills to tie for the match lead and giving CU a .283 hitting percentage compared to a .216 rate for the Pioneers. Skyler Kamaka (Kaneohe, Hawaii) registered 36 assists while teammate Kim Lindow (Gresham, Ore.) posted s13 digs for match highs. Lewis & Clark was led by Leia Matsunaga’s (Kaneohe, Hawaii) 27 assists and Lou Ohki’s (Winton, Calif.) 11 digs.