Box Score
IRVINE, Calif - And the number is now 3. Concordia Volleyball moved one step closer to its goal of a conference championship with a 3-1 win over BYU-Hawaii Friday at the CU Arena. With the win, the Eagles move to 24-2 on the season and 15-2 in PacWest play with three matches remaining.
Concordia jumped out to early leads in each of the first two sets but the visiting Seasiders came ready to play and gave Concordia all it could handle. An 11-5 lead by the Eagles in set one quickly became a 2-point affair following a 4-point run by the visitors and the margin remained at two or less the rest of the way. BYU finished with more kills (16-13) and digs (19-16) but couldn't overcome nine hitting errors that were compounded by three blocks from the Eagles. Two of those Concordia blocks were the difference in the set, breaking up a 23-23 tie to give the 25-23 win to the Eagles.
Hannah Andrews,
Rachel Flynn and
Ellie Ladensack led the way for the Eagles with 10 of the 13 kills, hitting a very efficient .263% in the set.
Set two started out in the same fashion with the Eagles dialing up a 15-11 lead midway through the frame. BYU did not break though, keeping within striking distance until they were able to put together four kills in a 6-3 push that narrowed the margin to 17-18. Neither team could find any separation until two kills for the Seasiders bookended two hitting errors by Concordia to provide BYU with the 25-22 second set win. Concordia recorded 15 kills and a strong .316 hitting percentage but they couldn't find the answer to a Seasider offense that recorded 17 kills and a blistering .424%.
BYU took their new-found momentum and use it to gradually build a 13-9 lead in the third before Coach
Paula Weishoff called her first time out. The Eagles found life out of the timeout and begin to chip away at the deficit. Back-to-back kills by Flynn would eventually bring the set even at 14 and two more kills from Ladensack gave Concordia a lead that it would not relinquish on its way to the 25-20 victory.
The Eagles used a 6-0 run early in the 4th set to open up a 12-4 margin to put BYU on their heels. As has become their way in the second half of the season, five different hitters contributed in the set, keeping the Seasiders off-balance. The twist this time came courtesy of Ladensack. With the help of setter
Logan Grove she put away six of her team's 11 kills in the set, including the game winner, to close things out in convincing fashion, 25-12.
Amber Rose and
Taylor Dennison continue to be Concordia's defensive duo during this stretch run. Dennison added another 20+ dig performance with a match high 21 on the night while Rose, the conference leader in blocks per set, controlled things at the net again with a match high 6 blocks.
The Eagles have a quick turnaround as they face Hawaii Pacific on Senior Night at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Concordia will say thank you to Ladensack, Dennison, Andrews,
Morgan Nunley and
Olivia Zolezzi prior to the start of the match.
