AZUSA, Calif. – The Concordia women's volleyball team were on the hunt, looking to avenge the Azusa Pacific Cougars from its five-set loss in October. Not only that but holding off the Cougars from clinching the outright PacWest title, which they had a share of going into Wednesday evening's game.
It went another five sets, but the Eagles were unable to pull out the comeback as the Cougars took sets one and two and closing it out in the fifth.
Concordia had created many positive situations of the match, mainly due to its strong presence at the net. CUI, the conference leader in blocks, out blocked the Cougars 18-10 and held APU to a .176 hitting efficiency, the lowest they have hit against all PacWest teams this season.
A trio of Eagles had career nights at the net, with
Hannah Tostado and
Mackenzie Jensen tying their best of 10 and seven blocks respectively, while
Patience O'Neal set a new career-high with seven.
Jordan Mineer led the way 13 kills and had five blocks and Jensen and O'Neal each tallied seven as well.
The Eagles opened up with an early 9-5 lead in the first after back-to-back blocks from Jensen and O'Neal. CUI pulled ahead 19-15 before the home team went on a 10-2 run down the stretch to claim set one. In the second, Azusa Pacific had set point at 24-19, but Concordia did not back down, fighting off two set points.
Tied at 19-all in the third, Concordia gained separation with a 4-0 run by way of two points each from Tostado and
Gracie Rowland. The Cougars scored three of their own to pull within one, but Rowland and
Brianna Latigue scored consecutive points to extend the match.
Mineer delivered for the Eagles in the fourth, scoring four of the first eight points to put her team up 7-1. Tostado served a trio of aces to gain more separation at 12-3. APU clawed their ways back in it at the end but Rowland delivered the final blow to send it to a fifth.
Azusa Pacific took control in the fifth, starting off with the momentum, leading 8-4 at the side switch. Jensen and O'Neal countered with a block, but the Cougars pulled away to take the set 15-7.
Next Up: Concordia concludes the season with a game on Friday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. against Notre dame de Namur and senior day on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 3 p.m.
