Box Score HONOLULU, HI – It was 3:00 p.m. Sunday when the whistle blew for first serve at the McCabe Center on the campus of Chaminade University. Just fifteen hours earlier, the Eagles were walking back into their hotel on the heels of a sweep of BYU-Hawaii..... such is life on the road. But when your goals for the season include vying for a conference championship, there is only this one match to focus on.
On day five in the Aloha state Concordia found the answers they needed to go 1-0 on the day, improving to 11-0 on the road and 19-2 overall after sweeping the Silver Swords 25-16, 25-22, 25-19.
Junior
Rachel Flynn led the Eagles offense with 17 kills, extending her streak of consecutive matches with double-digit kills to seventeen. Senior libero
Taylor Dennison is on a hot streak of her own, making Sunday's 22-dig performance her third straight 20+ dig match.
The duo set the tone early in the match, dictating play during an 8-0 run that shifted a close first set into a commanding 22-9 lead for the Eagles. Dennison blistered the Chaminade serve receive for three aces during the stretch while Flynn dialed up three kills of her own. Flynn put an exclamation point on things with her ninth kill of the set to seal the nine-point win.
Flynn and senior
Hannah Andrews shared the offensive load in a much closer second set that only saw two leads of more than three points. Flynn came up with another five kills in the set while Andrews hammered home four of her own. The Concordia block also began to exert its influence with
Cindy Tran,
Amber Rose and
Kyra Auten contributing to four team blocks. Each rejection came at a critical time in the set including the game winner from Tran and Rose for the final two-point margin.
The Eagle offense shifted into all-wheel drive in set three with six different attackers dialing up kills and putting pressure on the home team from every point along the net. The set was a back-and-forth affair with each team making a five-point run early leading to a tie at 10. Three more blocks denied each Chaminade attempt to grab the momentum and kills by four different Eagles created the separation Concordia needed, gradually opening up a 5-point lead enroute to the 25-19 win and second sweep in as many days.
Chaminade was led by Kim Spring and Emma Tecklenburg with eight kills a piece.
Concordia (19-2, 10-2 PacWest) gets a much deserved break before heading out for its final overnight road trip of the season next weekend. The Eagles will face-off against Dixie State in St. George, UT on Sunday at 11 a.m. (PST) for a rematch against one of the two teams who have beaten Concordia this year.
