PORTLAND, Ore.—Instead of waiting until being down 2-0 like in the previous meeting before pulling out a win, Concordia won three straight sets to defeat Oregon Tech 3-1 after the Owls stormed to take the opener in Cascade Collegiate Conference volleyball action on Saturday.

 

With the win, Concordia improved to 11-7 overall and 6-5 in the CCC while OIT fell to 10-8 overall and 4-7 in league contests. Concordia will travel to face Corban and Northwest Christian next weekend while the Owls will host Southern Oregon in their lone match of the week.

 

After trailing 9-8 in the first set, Oregon Tech powered its way to a win on Concordia’s court behind four kills from senior hitter Mindy Nalder. The Owls hit .303 in the opener while holding the Cavs to a .172 rate en route to the six-point win.

 

The second set resembled the initial go-around as the two teams were squared at 11-11 before the Cavs erupted for a dominating 14-2 run. CU hit a match-high .407 with five kills from Aria Nojima and four from Clair Thiel for nine of the team’s 13 terminations.    

 

The Cavs took an early 3-2 lead in the third and never relinquished the advantage as CU would outhit the Owls .175 to .079. On her way to her first career double-double, Melanie Miller struck for four of her 11 kills in the set to boost the CU attack.

 

Down by as many as seven points with the score 17-10, Oregon Tech narrowed the gap two three points on multiple occasions, including a CU attack error at 17-14 and a kill by Joey Parnell with the score 23-20, but the comeback effort would be short-lived as CU managed the last two points of the match, the final coming off the arm of Clair Thiel who finished with a match-high 15 kills. With the Concordia offense focused on one or two individuals in the prior two sets, seven different Cavs recorded a kill in the finale as they once again outhit their opponents, this time .344 to .242.  

 

OIT was at its most efficient in the final frame as Parnell accounted for five of the teams 12 kills and Malder adding three as the duo shared a team-high with nine kills each.

 

Aubrie Concannon ended with a match-high 18 digs to help CU to a 64-53 advantage in the stat column. Three different Owls reached double figures in digs with Krystie Vea tying teammate Parnell at 13.

 

Both setters turned in a quality performance with CU’s Lindsay Mangan tallying a match-high 43 assists to OIT’s 31 from Sarah Svedin. Both teams lacked consistence in the serving game as the two squads combing for 21 service errors, 13 of which came from the home side. In addition to her double-double, Miller registered a career-high five aces for the Cavs.