Sophomore Ashley Jibby recorded seven aces in two matches on Thursday.
Cavs Upset No. 20-Ranked CSU San Marcos, Defeat Vanguard on Opening Day
LA MIRADA, Calif.—Facing a pair of teams Concordia fell to at last year's Biola Summer Slam, the Cavaliers dispatched CSU San Marcos 3-2 and Vanguard 3-1 on Thursday to open its 2013 season.
After being swept by CSU San Marcos last year, Concordia started its day with a 3-2 (25-22, 24-26, 21-25, 25-21, 15-13) comeback win over the No. 20-ranked Cougars. The Cavs bookended the day with a 3-1 (25-21, 25-15, 25-27, 25-21) victory against Vanguard, a team that received votes in the NAIA Coaches' Preseason Poll earlier this week and dropped Concordia 3-1 in the 2012 tilt between the clubs.
Concordia will return to the court tomorrow afternoon for second day of tough matchups. The Cavs will face No. 16-ranked Westmont College at 1 p.m. before facing the No. 4-ranked host team from Biola University. Opening serve against the Eagles is set for 7 p.m.
With the results, the Cavaliers opened up its season at 2-0 for the second time under fifth-year head coach Melanie Hambelton. Concordia initiated the 2011 season with three straight wins before falling to Biola while playing at a tournament at Azusa Pacific University.
San Marcos outhit Concordia in the afternoon session, .180 to .148, but the Cougars committed 14 service errors to offset the advantage. The Cavs, however, became more efficient throughout the match, hitting .213 and .214 in the final two sets to overcome the 2-1 deficit.
Brianna Hogan (Portland, Ore./Centennial H.S.) and Melanie Miller (Hillsboro, Ore./Liberty H.S.) reached double-figures in kills with Hogan edging her teammate 13 to 11. San Marcos was led by a 22-kill output by Taylor DeGraff and a 56-assist match by setter Alyssa Foster.
Against Vanguard, the Cavs nearly pulled off its first sweep of the season. Cruising to wins in the first two sets, Concordia found itself in a back-and-forth battle to end the match in three as the third set featured 13 ties before Vanguard delayed elimination by breaking a 25-all ledger with a pair of kills by Jessica Chase.
After taking a 6-0 lead in the fourth, Concordia was outscored 14-4 to find itself in a slight deficit. Aided by five aces combined from Shantel Gritsch (Gresham, Ore./Clackamas H.S.), Jenessa Taylor (Beaverton, Ore./Sunset H.S.) and Ashley Jibby (Post Falls, Idaho/Post Falls H.S.) and four kills from junior blocker Mariah Raudsepp (Dundee, Ore./C.S. Lewis Academy), the Cavs overtook the Lions for good at 19-18 before securing the 25-21 win.
Raudsepp finished with 12 kills and added a team-high eight block assists as CU dominated the net with 12 total kills. Hogan returned with a team-high 15 kills for 28 terminations on the day. Lindsay Mangan (Huntington Beach, Calif./Marina H.S.) tallied 43 assists while the Cavs received slid defensive matches from Leslie Hanks (Hockinson, Wash./Hockinson H.S.) (17 digs), Gritsch (15 digs) and Lindsay Montgomery (10 digs).