IRVINE, Calif. – Concordia women's volleyball team ended its season on a high note, finishing with three-straight victories, including a sweep of Holy Names on Saturday night.
The Eagles took down the Hawks for the second time this season by a score of 25-13, 25-20, 25-16. For the night, Concordia put down 50 kills, hit a season-high hitting percentage of .384, and had 60 digs.
Jaclyn Brown and
Riley Gill both took a majority of the swings for the night, each collecting double-doubles. Gill had 11 kills and 12 digs while Brown had 13 kills and 13 digs, two digs shy of
Clarice Buchanan's match-high 15.
The Green and Gold set the tone of the match early, putting themselves ahead 16-3 before Holy Names used both of their timeouts. Brown and Gill each contributed points in bunches to extend their lead making it 23-8. An Eagles' kill and a Hawks hitting error closed out the first set for the 1-0 Concordia advantage.
Both teams displayed strong service pressure in the second set, which kept the set close.
Renae Ross collected back-to-back kills to give Concordia a 9-6 lead until Holy Names climbed back to tie the set at 11. A Hawk's hitting error put the Eagles up 19-18 where Brown,
Hannah Tostado, and
Cambria Fernandez went on a hitting spree to extend the lead to five. Brown would then end the set off a swing on the right side to push CUI up 2-0.
Similar to the first, Concordia started out 5-0 before pushing their lead to 10-5.
Kylie Breitenwischer had two of her career-high four blocks, along with kills from Brown and Fernandez, in a run that put the Eagles ahead 17-9. Both teams had solid defense toward the later part of the game, sparking a long rally which Gill would terminate to set up match point. A strategic swing from Gill was kept alive by the Hawks, giving Concordia a free ball opportunity that Breitenwischer put away to seal the deal.
"We looked at this game as our last opportunity to go out and show everyone how hard we've worked," Breitenwischer said. "We wanted to end on a high note."
Concordia concludes its 2018 campaign with a 10-20 overall record and a 9-13 conference record, placing the Eagles seventh in the PacWest.
