PORTLAND, Ore.—With four players reaching double digits in kills, the No. 23-ranked Concordia University volleyball team defeated Saint Martin's University 3-1 (30-28, 26-24, 19-25, 25-15) on Tuesday night.
Concordia entered the match with five straight sweeps and extended a streak of 17 consecutive winning sets before falling in the third set against the Saints. Hitting .324 in the finale, the Cavs rebounded in the fourth set to claim its sixth straight overall win, one win shy of head coach Melanie Hambelton's all-time best in her five years at Concordia.
Despite being outhit .300 to .171, Saint Martin's had four chances at set point in the opener before an ace from Lindsey Montgomery (Salem, Ore./Salem Academy) and an attacking error doomed the visitors.
With Kristyn Ross counting for five kills, the Saints inched closer to the Cavs in the second set, hitting .179 to .211 for Concordia, only to fall in CU's first chance at set point with the score 25-24.
Ross added five more kills in the third as the Saints held Concordia to a .070 rate while breaking CU's set streak with a 25-19 win.
The final set, however, was all Concordia as the reigning CCC Offensive Player of the Week Jackie Stein (Portland, Ore./Westview H.S.) and fellow sophomore Brianna Hogan (Portland, Ore./Centennial H.S.) each recorded four kills each en route to the 25-15 win.
Ross and SMU teammate Carrie Starbuck finished with a match-high 15 kills but no other Saint tallied more than seven terminations on the night.
Meanwhile, Hogan and Stein ended the match with a dozen kills and were closely followed by Amanda Goringe (Aloha, Ore./Aloha H.S.) and Mariah Raudsepp (Dundee, Ore./C.S. Lewis Academy) with 11 and 10 kills, respectively.
In a battle of top setters from their respective conferences, CU's Lindsay Mangan (Huntington Beach, Calif./Marina H.S.) tallied 44 assists while SMU's Cymbree Decosta was credited with 39 assists. Concordia's Shantel Gritisch also won the libero showdown with 21 digs to Halee Hernandez's 18. With 11 digs, Leslie Hanks (Hockinson, Wash./Hockinson H.S.) also reached double figures in the department, marking the sixth such occasion this season for the junior defensive specialist.
Concordia, 2-0 in CCC play so far this season, will return to action on Friday when it hosts conference foe Corban University. The Cavs will turn around and host Northwest Christian on Saturday evening with both matches set to begin at 7 p.m.
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Concordia 3, St. Martin's 1
(30-28, 26-24, 19-25, 25-15) |
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Stats Comparison |
CU |
SMU |
|
Kills |
56 |
51 |
|
Errors |
28 |
21 |
|
Attack Pct. |
.154 |
.222 |
|
Assists |
52 |
46 |
|
Digs |
63 |
64 |
|
Blocks |
5.0 |
6.0 |
|
Aces |
5 |
3 |
|
CU |
Leaders |
SMU |
Hogan
Stein |
12 |
Kills |
15 |
Ross
Starbuck |
|
Mangan |
44 |
Assists |
39 |
Decosta |
|
Gritcsh |
21 |
Digs |
18 |
Hernandez |
|
Raudsepp |
2.0 |
Blocks |
1.5 |
Davidson
Ross |
|
Montgomery |
2 |
Aces |
2 |
Good |
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Concordia Volleyball |
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