Cavs Topple Yotes for First Time Since '03
BOX SCORE : Concordia vs. College of Idaho
PORTLAND, Ore.—For the first time in just over nine years, the Concordia volleyball team beat The College of Idaho, topping the No.14-ranked Yotes 3-1 (25-17, 19-25, 25-17, 25-15) on Friday.
The Cavaliers last beat the Yotes back on Oct. 25, 2003, nine years and one day from Friday. Concordia had come close to beating the Yotes recently, taking them to five sets on the road earlier this season as well as at home in 2011, but hadn't broken through against the Yotes until Friday.
The Cavaliers earned the upset on Friday too, outhitting the Yotes .255-to-.144 for the match. The Cavaliers' .255 hitting percentage in the match was the best mark any team has posted against the Yotes this season.
“I thought we played steady and settled volleyball tonight,” said CU head coach
Melanie Hambelton. “We didn't get rattled and everybody contributed to the win. All of our hitters stepped it up and we played to win, not to just keep the lead.”
The Cavs' win over the Yotes also assured them of at least the No. 4 seed in the CCC Tournament since Eastern Oregon beat Warner Pacific earlier on Friday. The Cavs will play Eastern Oregon tomorrow, Oct. 27 for a match that will likely determine who will be the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament.
The Cavaliers' upset bid started in the first set when the team outhit the Yotes .389-to-.143. The Yotes had started strong in the set, running out to an early 10-6 lead over the Cavs behind a defense that forced the Cavs into three attacking error at the start of the first.
Concordia committed its last attacking error of the opening set on the Yotes' 10th point of the set however, as the Cavaliers' offense ran off 14 kills against no errors from that point on.
The Cavs' scored three straight points to get within one at 10-9, then took the lead for good behind a 9-3 run in the middle of the set that put them up 19-15. The Yotes won the next point to break the Cavs' run, but then saw Concordia claim six of the final seven points in the set to take the opening frame 25-17.
The Cavs'
Brianna Hogan led the team in the early attack as she recorded six kills on only nine attempts in the first set alone.
Jackie Stein, meanwhile, had four kills for the Cavs in the first set, while The College of Idaho's Sofia Anxo did her best to keep the Yotes close with five kills of her own.
While the Cavs' comeback in the first started them on the right foot, the team could not muster the same comeback in the second set, as the Yotes never trailed in the second set.
The Yotes jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the second, with back-to-back kills from the Yotes' Torrey Hulsey punctuating her team's strong start. Concordia tried to comeback like they had in the first, getting back within two at 16-14 at one point, but the Yotes' defense held the Cavs at bay and led the Yotes to a 25-19 set victory.
In the end, the College of Idaho held Concordia to just .051 hitting in the second set, by far the Cavs' lowest mark of any set on Friday.
The Cavaliers bounced back in the third set however, as they had their best defensive set of the night in the third, forcing the Yotes into 10 attacking errors and a .050 hitting percentage.
Concordia took the early lead the third too, as the Cavs went on a 5-0 run near the start of the set to take the lead at 9-5. All five of the Cavs' points in the run came on attacking errors with the last one coming thanks to a block from the Cavs' Stein and
Amanda Goringe.
The Cavaliers then put distance between themselves and the Yotes, as they stretched their lead to 18-10 behind an 8-2 run that featured two kills from Hogan. The Yotes got a pair service aces from setter Sierra Porter soon after that run, but the Cavs held the lead comfortably the rest of the way.
Now one set away from the victory, Concordia showed no sign of backing down as they again went on an early run to take the advantage at the start of the fourth. The Yotes had gone up 5-2 off of a kill from Jessica Peacock, but the Cavs won seven of the next eight points to take the advantage at 9-6.
The Yotes tried to take the lead back, getting within two a couple of times, but the Cavs never gave up the lead after the early run.
The Yotes got within two for the last time at 15-13 after the team got back-to-back blocks from Liz Myers and Kylee Nawahine. However, the Cavaliers immediately responded with a 10-2 run that closed out the match for Concordia.
Stein had four kills in the Cavs' late run, giving her five total kills against no errors in the fourth set alone. Stein's late hot streak helped balance the Cavaliers' attack after the Yotes started to key on Hogan. Hogan had tallied 15 kills for the Cavs through the first three sets of the match, but just had one in the fourth set as the Yotes' defense began to shift towards her.
Overall, Hogan and Stein led the Cavalier attack, as the two combined for 28 of the Cavs' 51 kills in the match. Hogan led all attackers with 16 kills in the match, while Stein finished with 12 kills and no errors.
On the flip side, Peacock led the Yotes with 13 kills, while Hulsey had 12 kills of her own.
Meanwhile, in the battle of the conference's top two setters, Porter got the better of Mangan with 41 assists in the match compared to Mangan's 38.
At the same time, the Cavs'
Kelsey Kai led all players with 21 digs in the match.
Both teams return to action tomorrow, Oct. 27, as Concordia hosts Eastern Oregon, while The College of Idaho travels across town to face Warner Pacific. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m.