The Concordia University Irvine women's volleyball team lined up two victories in less than 24 hours to cap off a successful road trip to the Bay Area.
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After dispatching the Academy of Art in three sets, CUI returns home to Irvine on a three-game winning streak while sporting a 3-1 PacWest conference record.
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After falling behind the Knights 9-4 in the opening stanza, sophomore
Jaclyn Brown helped get the Eagles back on track.
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Brown found two aces up her sleeve and went on a serving tear to help the Green and Gold go on a 6-0 run. Â That scoring frenzy put the Eagles up 15-10 but they were just starting to get into a groove.
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Riley Gill then helped out by securing back-to-back aces of her own. Gill served six straight times to help CUI close out the first set, 25-16.
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After falling behind 3-0 to start the second game, Concordia rattled off ten straight points with Gill doing lots of the damage again from the serving line. Gill finished with seven aces on the day.
A freshman connection helped cap off the second set by a count of 25-15 as
Brianna Latigue set up
Jordan Mineer for a kill that gave CUI a 2-0 lead.
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The Eagles flew out to a 6-0 advantage in the third set and hung on for the sweep, 25-22.
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Freshman
Patience O'Neal powered her way to nine kills to lead the Eagles and classmate
Hannah Tostado finished with a team-high four blocks.
"We're extremely young," said O'Neal, "so to be able to battle and do all the things we've been doing, it's super fun and we're getting better."
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Ailsa Watson made it look elementary with 20 assists and
Clarice Buchanan did her part with a dozen digs to lead the Green and Gold in that category.
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The Eagles now turn their focus to the three PacWest schools from Hawai'i who will be in town this coming week.
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Concordia hosts Hawai'i Pacific on Monday evening at 7 p.m.  Hawai'i Hilo visits on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. and then first place Chaminade comes to Irvine on Saturday, September 22 for a 5 p.m. meeting.Â
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The night of the CUI-Chaminade match is Alumni Night for the CUI women's volleyball program. CUI Athletics will also honor last year's Concordia softball team which won the 2018 PacWest Championship.
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