PORTLAND, Ore.— Hitting a collective .365 for the match while holding Warner Pacific to -.021, Concordia swept the Knights 3-0 (25-3, 25-15, 26-24) in Cascade Collegiate Conference action on Friday night.

 

With the win, CU improved to 5-5 on the season and 2-1 in the CCC while WPC fell to 2-7 and 0-3 in league play.

 

Playing in front of over 300 fans, the Cavaliers dominated the opening set. Combining for eight kills against just a single error, the Cavs hit .368 in the first set to open up a 15-0 lead to start the match.

 

The Knights were doomed by 10 attacking errors to hit .308 against just two kills in the runaway win.

 

Warner Pacific tallied the first point in the second set but the Cavs went on a 21-8 run behind five kills from senior Raluca Dinca (Portland, Ore./David Douglas H.S.). Despite seven kills from the WPC offense, the Knights were still held to a negative attack rate (.061) while the home side exploded for a season-best .522 to go onto the 25-15 win.

 

Getting four kills from Emily Damschen (Castle Rock, Wash./Castle Tock H.S.), the Knights managed to push the Cavaliers to the brink in the third set by evening the score at 24-24 following a CU attack error.

 

From there, the freshman combination of Lindsay Mangan (Huntington Beach, Calif./Marina H.S.) to Mariah Raudsepp (Dundee, Ore./C.S. Lewis Academy) posted a kill for the Cavs before Clair Thiel (Oak Harbor, Wash./Oak Harbor H.S.) finished the match with the match-ending point.

       

“The crowd was awesome tonight,” CU head coach Melanie Hambelton said. “The energy in the gum was amazing and our play reflected their support.”

 

Dinca led the floor with nine kills on 25 attempts and against one error. Raudsepp followed with eight kills and Thiel finished with seven. Mangan registered a match-high 26 assists while teammate Aubrie Concannon (Portland, Ore./Rex Putnam H.S.) tied the match-high of 14 digs with WPC’s Caitlyn McCall (Gresham, Ore./Gresham H.S.).

 

Damschen finished with a team-high eight kills to lead the Knights.

 

Concordia out blocked the Knights 8.5 to two with Raudsepp earning a career high seven block assists.   

 

“Our middles are playing strong volleyball,” Hambelton said. “I am just excited to see this team come together and I believe we can do great things as we continue to grow as a team. Right now we need to learn how to close people out and maintain our effort throughout the entire match.”