The energy in the CU Arena was electric on Saturday night as the Eagles went talon-to-toe with the Azusa Pacific Cougars.  Concordia emerged victorious, defeating APU in five sets (25-22, 19-25, 18-25, 25-19, 15-12).  Rachel Flynn set the tone for Concordia, notching a double-double.
 
The Cougars took the first meeting between the two teams this season in three sets, sweeping the Eagles in Azusa.
 
After battling to a 9-9 tie in the first set, a kill by Cindy Tran from Jessica Diederich sparked a 3-point run for the Eagles to put them in front 12-9.  The two teams continued to trade points until APU jumped out to a 21-18 lead.  A kill from Riley Gill and a pair from Flynn closed the gap and the Eagles took advantage of Cougar errors to take a 24-21 lead.  A kill by Flynn sealed the deal as the Eagles took set one, 25-22.
 
Azusa Pacific jumped out to a 4-1 lead to begin the second set.  Flynn found a hole in the APU defense with an assist from Diederich to swing the momentum back to CUI.  Hailey Gaines followed with a kill from Kyra Auten to even the set at 6-6 before Flynn utilized an assist from Logan Grove to give CUI a 7-6 lead.  The Cougars quickly responded with eight straight points to take a commanding 14-7 lead.  Three straight kills from Flynn brought the Eagles within five, but APU hung on to win the set 25-19.
 
Concordia and APU battled in the third set until 11-11.  A kill from Sara Wagenveld put the Cougars up 12-11 and they would not give up the lead again, taking the set 25-18.
 
Down two sets to one, the Eagles turned things around in the fourth set.  The first three Eagle points in the set came from Tran kills, though the Eagles fell behind 9-3.  Jaclyn Brown entered the game and contributed three kills to cut the deficit to 12-9.  A service ace from Amber Rose brought the Eagles within one.  A Gaines kill from Ailsa Watson tied the set at 17-17.  A kill from Gaines, a pair from Brown and two service aces from Diederich pushed the Eagles to a 25-19 win in the set.
 
Rose kicked off the fifth set with a kill from Diederich and three kills from Flynn gave CUI a 4-2 lead over the Cougars.  APU went on a five-point run to take a 9-6 lead.  A big swing from Tran shifted the momentum back in favor of the Eagles before a big block by Flynn, Rose and Tran put Concordia in front 12-10.  Kills from Flynn, Rose and Tran pushed Concordia to a 15-12 victory in set five to take the match 3-2.
 
Flynn dominated the court, leading the team with 24 kills with a hitting percentage of .273 while also contributing 14 digs, two block assists, two block solos and a service ace. 
 
Tran added 14 kills with a hitting percentage of .278 to go with eight blocks and five digs.  Rose held down the net with 10 blocks.
 
Deiderich tallied 41 assists in the match and Madeline Deters led the Eagles with 24 digs.
 
Currently on a seven-match winning streak, the Eagles improve to 7-5 in PacWest play and 11-8 overall to move up to fourth in the PacWest.
 
The team travels to Hawai'i next week to begin a three game road trip.  They will take on Chaminade on Friday at 7 p.m. in Honolulu.