STANFORD, Calif. – The Concordia University men's volleyball team finished their series against Stanford Saturday afternoon. The Eagles were able to take Cardinal to five sets but Stanford closed out the match with scores 25-27, 22-25, 25-21, 25-21, and 12-15.
 
Middles Owen Chun and Jesper Schut both finished the game with six kills each. Schut led the Eagles and records a personal best with six blocks up at the net. Raymond Barsemian added another solid night with 25 kills making that his sixth time this season earning more than 20 kills. Outside hitters Jordan Hoppe and Jonathan Carlson had 14 and 10 kills while Hoppe had a personal best of 13 digs. McLain Mott dished out an impressive 54 assists and 11 digs with libero Addison Enriques adding nine digs.
 
In the first and second sets went back and forth until the end. Back-to-back blocks from Schut, Barsemian, and Carlson had the Eagles take the lead 22-21 and force Stanford to call a timeout in the first. Hoppe served an ace to take a two point lead but Cardinal was able to overcome and close out the set with a close score. In the second, the Eagles took another two point lead with Stanford calling a timeout. Cardinal went on a four point run to finish the set and take a 2-0 lead over Concordia.
 
Sets three and four were in favor of the Eagles due to tough serving runs as they were able to take Stanford to a fifth set. Chun and Hoppe went on serving runs for the Green and Gold to extend their lead 16-12. CUI never let Stanford back into the game or going on any runs to take the third with a four point gap. In the fourth, the Eagles didn't allow Stanford to go on any runs and slowly creeped away with a lead until the end of the set.
 
With the fifth set only going to 15 points, the score was tied seven times and had three lead changes over the course of the set. CUI kept within a couple points throughout the set but two consecutive kills from Cardinal finish the match.
 
CUI men's volleyball team will finish conference play in Phoenix, Ariz. and play against Grand Canyon as a make-up from earlier in the season. The games are Friday and Saturday Apr. 16 and 17 with times slated at 6 p.m. and 4 p.m.
 
To see the full CUI men's volleyball schedule, CLICK HERE.
 
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