Box Score San Rafael, CA - It was a night to set things right in a number of ways for Concordia. First, and most importantly, the team needed to bounce back from a tough loss against Dixie State last weekend. Almost as important, the team wanted to set the tone in its first conference road trip of the season as well as avenge a loss at Dominican last season. Mission accomplished on all fronts as the Eagles bounced back from a first set loss to a scrappy Dominican squad to win going away, 23-25, 25-21, 25-10, 25-13.
Similar to the first set against Dixie State, Concordia came out slow and struggled to find their offensive rhythm. The Penguins found ways to extend rallies and eventually got some separation before a CUI rally pulled them to within a point at 23-22. Dominican, led by Outside hitter Aimee Steward (5 kills) and libero Amanda Lee (10 digs) made the plays they needed to and closed out the first set with a two-point win.
Set two would see a similar beginning but a significantly different finish thanks to seniors
Ellie Ladensack (7 kills) and
Rachel Flynn (5 kills, 6 digs). Dominican kept the set close throughout but the visitors put together four different three point runs to create some breathing room and finish with the 4-point win. The Eagles offense began to find a rhythm, hitting .256 in the set (compared to .182 in the 1st) and, equally important, the Concordia defense started tightening the screws, holding the Penguins to a .000 hitting percentage in the set.
The final two sets took on a very similar feel as the Eagles jumped out to early five-point leads and never looked back. Flynn and Ladensack continued to lead the charge helping the team to a .571 hitting percentage in set number three (16 kills, 0 errors on 28 swings) and .343 percentage (13 kills, 1 error on 35 swings) in the fourth. Head Coach
Paula Weishoff noted the importance of the offensive turnaround.
"We matured a lot tonight in that we started to take ownership of our level of play, limited our own mistakes, and did a much better job of putting a more consistent level of pressure on our opponent. We were pretty high error in the first two sets and I thought it was really important for the team as a whole to step up to the plate and make some adjustments after losing the first set. It was definitely a great team effort."
As a team the Eagles closed out the final two sets on a tear with 29 kills and only one error, 6 blocks, 6 aces (no service errors) and 28 digs. Flynn finished the night with another double-double, notching a season-high 23 kills along with 16 digs. Ladensack was the second-half of the two-headed monster tonight, racking up 16 kills with only 1 error while adding 5 blocks and 5 digs. Senior setter
Morgan Nunley recorded her first double-double of the season, registering 44 assists along with 11 digs.
Concordia (11-1 overall, 2-1 PacWest) has a short turnaround as they drive down the 101 on Saturday to face Academy of Art (4-8 overall, 2-1 PacWest) at
5:00pm at the Kezar Pavilion (off campus)
. AAU is fresh off of a 5-set win over visiting Azusa Pacific this afternoon. Please note the start time as it was listed incorrectly on the website originally.
