Concordia concluded its regular season schedule by taking down the USC Trojans Saturday night in Irvine, Calif. The finale finished in four sets and put the Eagles at 15-14 on the year and 5-7 in the MPSF. With the conference tournament quickly approaching, CUI aimed to clinch the No. 4 spot and make it a sweep over the Trojans this year. Concordia achieved both tasks. The Eagles defeated USC twice this year in four sets and will host the opening round of the MPSF tournament against No. 5 Grand Canyon University April 14th. 

The Eagles snagged set one in front of a packed crowd to start the night off. Despite hitting .194 in the game, Concordia utilized three aces to add to their point total. Tied at eight, Concordia embarked on an 8-2 scoring run with kills from Jonathan Predney, Hunter Howell and Darcy Taig to gain control of the set. The Trojans strung together a few points, but setter Chandler Gibb attacked on the second contact for the three-point lead. The Eagles closed it out on two Raymond Barsemian kills and two Trojan mistakes. 

Concordia's attacking dropped in set two, while their opponents rocketed to .375 with only four errors. With the score set a three apiece, USC pushed an 11-5 run. Following an Eagle time out, Predney and Taig found success but a series of serving errors prevented the Eagles from gaining ground. Trailing 20-13, Taylor Falduti posted two kills, but it wasn't enough to catch up and the Trojans took set two 25-19. 

In set three, the Eagle offense exploded. Concordia hit .429, scoring 21 of their 30 points on kills. The first two came from Falduti, followed by Taig, Barsemian and Howell. Taig, Howell and Predney each posted at least three kills in the set, but Barsemian was unstoppable. The outside hitter tallied nine kills and an ace during the game that the Eagles one in overtime, 30-28. 

CUI contained the Trojans to a -.125 attack to claim the victory in four sets. Barsemian and Predney stayed hot on the pins, combining for three kills to jump to an 8-6 advantage. After a few USC errors, they called a timeout and bounced back with two points. But from this point on, Concordia commanded the court with the help of multiple USC hitting errors. With a 24-14 lead, Gibb dished a set to Predney who powered it past the Trojan defense for the four set win. 

Eagle Eye: Barsemian posted a match high 17 kills, with four digs and two aces. Howell and Falduti each hit over .400 and added seven kills each. Predney posted 12 kills, three blocks, a trio of digs and two aces. Gibb, the new record holder for all-time career assists, added to his total with 41 assists. Libero Jacob Weiser led both teams with 13 digs. 

What's Next: Concordia split with Grand Canyon during conference play, winning in three at home and losing in four sets on the road. The Lopes finished regular season play 18-10 overall and 4-8 in the MPSF. April 14th at 7 p.m., the Eagles will host GCU in the CU Arena.