Concordia's Brenna Huwe led a balanced Cavalier attack with 13 kills off the bench, as CU picked up its ninth win of the CCC season with a four-set victory Saturday over Corban.
No. 21 Concordia Takes Care of Corban in Four
BOX SCORE
SALEM, Ore. – After dropping back-to-back matches one week ago, the NAIA's No. 21-ranked Concordia University swept through this weekend thanks to a four-set win, 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-15, 25-12), over Corban University Saturday inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.
Concordia (16-4, 9-2 CCC) would get a team-high 13 kills from Brenna Huwe, while Brianna Hogan and Melanie Miller added 12 and 11, respectively. Lindsay Mangan ran the Cavaliers' offense with a match-high 37 assists, while Shantel Gritsch anchored CU's defense with a match-high 22 digs. At the net, Goringe registered a match-high six blocks to go along with a match-high three services aces from Anna Chizum.
Corban (5-16, 2-9 CCC) was led offensively by a trio of Warriors – Claire Bailey, Olivia Shropshire, and Miah Smith – with double-digit kill totals with a match-high 14, 10, and 10, respectively. Shropshire would register her second straight double-double with her 10 kills and 16 digs, while libero Katherine Salness added a team-high 17 digs defensively. The setting duo of Haley Meili and Payton Wilcox would combine to hand out 35 assists with Meili leading the offense with 22, while Jenny Harman added three blocks at the net.
The opening set would be a dog-fight over the first 20 combined points until Concordia broke a 10-10 tie with a mini 4-1 run that resulted in a 14-11 lead on a kill by Hogan. Corban would battle back to take a 16-15 thanks to a 5-1 run that concluded with a kill by Smith. Both teams would trade points over the next few, as Concordia built a slim two-point advantage (21-19) before Shropshire brought the Warriors within one (21-20) with a kill before stepping behind the service line. The senior outside hitter would serve the final five points, as Corban came back to win the opening set (25-21) thanks to a set-closing 5-0 run on the arm of Shropshire.
Set #2 would see Corban build a 10-6 advantage on a kill by Shropshire before Concordia used a 14-6 run that resulted in a four-point lead (20-16) that forced the host Warriors to call a timeout. Following the break in action, Concordia did not relinquish its lead pushing it to a set-closing six-point cushion (25-19) thanks to a pair of Hogan kills that bookended a Chizum service ace.
The third set would belong to Concordia from the beginning, as the Cavaliers jumped out to a seven-point lead (14-7) before increased its advantage to double digits (21-11) on a kill by Mangan. Despite Corban pulling within seven points (22-15) on a service ace by Brittany Sweet, the Warriors would not get any closer thanks to a set-closing 3-0 run by Concordia that ended on a service ace by Jenessa Taylor for the 25-15 victory.
The fourth and final set would also be a one-sided affair, as Concordia built a seven-point lead (13-6) before increasing it to 13 points (23-10) behind the serving of Gritsch. Corban would pull within 12 points (24-12) on a kill by Shropshire before Concordia closed out the match on Miller's 11th and final kill of the night for the 25-12 win and victory in four sets.
Overall, Concordia hit .248 (50-15-141) on the night that included a .560 clip in the second set when the Cavaliers registered 14 kills on 25 swings without an error. Meanwhile, Corban hit .114 (43-26-149) in the four-set match.
Both teams return to action on Friday, October 18th, when Concordia hosts Northwest and Corban travels to take on Oregon Tech. The two matches are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. in Portland and Klamath Falls, respectively.