Concordia tops Southern Oregon for seventh straight win

9/20/2014 7:39:00 PM

PORTLAND, Ore.—In a battle of two of the three remaining undefeated teams in conference play, Concordia University dropped No. 15-ranked Southern Oregon University 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 25-19) inside the Cavalier Gymnasium on Saturday.

The two teams traded 25-23 wins over the first two sets with Concordia (9-4, 6-0 CCC) eking out a win on the opener which featured nine ties and Southern Oregon (10-3, 4-1 CCC) using an 11-6 start in the second to knot the match at 1-all.

In another back-and-forth affair in the third, the home side scored four of the last five points, two of which came from successful swings by freshman Lindsey Dorsey (Salem, Ore./Sprague H.S.), to secure a 25-22 win.

Holding SOU to a .000 hitting percentage, the Cavaliers rolled out to a 15-7 lead in the fourth before closing out the set with a six-point spread.

The win represented the seventh straight for Concordia, whose last loss came in a five-set thriller at home against NCAA DII Seattle Pacific University on August 29.

The loss snapped a five match winning streak for the Raiders, who will return to Ashland to host No. 11-ranked Eastern Oregon University on Sept. 26. Concordia, meanwhile, will host Warner Pacific College that evening in the team's lone match of the week.

Concordia finished with a .190 to .093 edge in hitting percentage with Ashley Jibby (Post Falls, Idaho/Post Falls H.S.) leading the way with 13 kills. Dorsey followed with 12 terminations while teammate Brianna Hogan (Portland, Ore./Centennial H.S.) ended the night with 10 kills.

With a match-high 17 kills, Paulia Pinheiro led the SOU attack with Emma Gasman (11) and Motade Atanda (10) also reaching double figures.

Lauren McGowne, the CCC leader at 10.56 assists per set, finished with 44 assists in the four-set match to edge Concordia's counterpart Jenessa Taylor (Beaverton, Ore./Sunset H.S.), who had 41 assists on the night but sprinkled seven kills into the mix in key situations for the Cavs.

Both teams fared well on the back line as CU tallied a 73-72 advantage in total digs, 24 of which came from junior libero Shantel Gritsch (Gresham, Ore./Clackamas H.S.).