Cavs Upend Eagles in Three Sets

9/28/2012 8:57:17 PM

BOX SCORE - Concordia vs. Northwest

PORTLAND, Ore.—The Concordia volleyball team swept Northwest University 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-10) in a pivotal conference match on Friday.
 
Both teams had entered the match 4-3 in conference play with a win giving the victor sole possession of fourth place in the conference standings.
 
Concordia (8-7, 5-3 CCC) got the win thanks to gutting out a pair of tight sets at the start of the match. Northwest (10-7, 4-4 CCC) took the Cavs deep in both the first and second set before Concordia came out on fire in the third to put the match away.
 
Either team could have taken the first set, as the teams sat tied at 23-23. Concordia’s Mariah Raudsepp gave her team a crucial kill on the next point, however, while a Northwest ball handling error after that gave the Cavs the set win.
 
The Eagles had done a good job of battling back in the first though, as they erased a pair of big early leads for the Cavs. Concordia took its first big lead at 9-4, only to have the Eagles string five straight points together to even the match again at 9-9. Concordia again ran out to a five-point lead a little later in the set at 15-10, but the Eagles answered once more, this time going on a 5-1 run to cut the Cavs’ lead to one at 16-15.
 
Remarkably, the Cavaliers never trailed in the first set, but couldn’t put the Eagles away until the two late points thanks to the Eagles’ resiliency.
 
The Eagles’ effort in the first paid off early in the second too, as the team took an early 10-7 over the Cavaliers. The Cavaliers were fortunate to be as close as they were early at that point too, as four of the Cavs’ five points came off of service errors. Without those, the Eagles might have had an ever bigger lead at the start of the set.
 
Regardless, the Cavalier attack eventually picked itself up, as both teams stepped up their respective offenses in the second set.
 
The Cavaliers really found their stride in the middle of the second, as they went on an 11-3 run to turn a 13-11 deficit into a commanding 22-16 lead. Freshman Amanda Goringe played particularly well for the Cavs during the run, as she recorded a block assist, a kill and two assists for the Cavs.
 
The run also gave the Cavaliers all the momentum in the set and a Brianna Hogan kill quickly gave the Cavs five set points at 24-19.
 
To their credit, the Eagles fought off the first three set points thanks to a pair of kills from Breanna Covey and another from Sarah Stoker, but the Cavaliers finished it off with a final kill from Raudsepp in the middle.
 
Statistically, both teams played extremely well in the second, as Northwest recorded its best hitting percentage (.283) of any set in the match, while Concordia hit .317 off 16 kills. In addition, both of the teams’ setters recorded their best sets of the match, as Northwest’s Ashton Arbuthnot finished with 15 assists in the set, while Concordia’s Lindsay Mangan finished with 14 assists, a service ace and a kill.
 
Still, the two close wins in the first two sets put the Cavs up 2-0 in the match, while an early run in the third would soon release any remaining drama from the match.
 
Concordia led 7-5 early in the third when the team went on a back-breaking 12-1 run to put themselves in full control at 19-6. Hogan had three kills for the Cavs during the run, while Raudsepp added two more and Melanie Miller added a kill and a service ace.
 
By the end of it, Concordia stood just six points away from the match victory, which they got after an attacking error by the Eagles on the Cavs’ first match point gave them the win.
 
Overall, Concordia outhit Northwest .279-to-.126 in the match after converting 43 kills on 111 attacks with only 12 errors.
 
Individually, Concordia’s Hogan and Jackie Stein tied for the match-high in kills with 12 each, while a trio of players finished with seven kills in Northwest’s Covey and Olivia Vandlac as well as Concordia’s Raudsepp.
 
Elsewhere, Mangan edged Arbuthnot for the most assists as Mangan finished with 34 compared to Arbuthnot’s 28. Mangan also had a good all-around performance for the Cavs, as the junior finished with four kills on four attacks, while also adding five digs, two service aces and a block assist.
 
Finally, Kelsey Kai led all players with 20 digs in the match. Kai’s numbers came largely thanks to an outstanding second set for the junior, who finished with a whopping 12 digs in the second set alone. On the flip side, Northwest’s Heather Shulke led the Eagles with 19 digs, while Vandlac added 13 more.
 
Next up, Concordia hosts Evergreen State for a match tomorrow, Sept. 29, while Northwest travels to Warner Pacific. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m.