Volleyball drops road matches to Eagles, Crusaders

MADISON, Wis. – Concordia University Wisconsin entered Tuesday night looking to get back into the win column, but was defeated by Edgewood College in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference match before losing an exciting five-set match to Maranatha Baptist Bible College in a non-conference showdown.

The Eagles, who won the league a season ago and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, wasted no time in winning 3-1 (13-25, 25-15, 18-25, 13-25) over the Falcons.

CUW then trailed the Crusaders (6-0) by two sets before evening the match at 2-2, however, it faltered in the deciding frame to lose 3-2 (19-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21, 2-15) at the Todd Wehr Edgedome.

Several Falcons had career nights, despite the loss, against the Crusaders. Junior Hannah Griffiths (Antigo, Wis.) who recorded 27 kills and set a new career best with 17 kills, while junior Carley Valentine (De Pere, Wis.) assisted on 55 points, including a career-high 35 kills. Senior Ashley Faber (Kewaskum, Wis.) tied a career high with 14 kills.

Defensively, sophomore Kelsey Paramore (Tomahawk, Wis.) recorded 31 digs, including a career-high 21 against the Eagles. Junior Erin Howard (Labadie, Mo.) had 30 digs and a career best 21 versus the MBBC. In addition, Valentine set a new career mark with 17 digs against the Eagles.

Griffiths and Valentine each recorded a double-double in each match.

Match One: EC 3, CUW 1

The Eagles (9-2, 1-0 NACC) controlled the match from start to finish, despite giving up the second set. CUW (2-4, 0-1 NACC) failed to score over 18 points in each set it lost.

Lindsey Swansby had a match-high 34 assists, three players accumulated double-figure kills and five Eagles finished with double-digit digs.

CUW hit .116 in the match, compared to EC's .211.

Match Two: MBBC 3, CUW 2

The Falcons showed fight by taking back-to-back sets with the match on the line to play a critical fifth frame. However, the Crusaders went on the attack and smashed nine kills, and took advantage of four-consecutive errors to end the match.

Laci Peterson led all players with 26 kills and Emily Thompson assisted on a match-best 32 kills. Samantha Swiatek recorded a match-high 23 digs.

There were 21 scoring ties and four lead changes in the five-set thriller. MBBC had a .196 attack percentage and finished with 9.0 total blocks, while CUW hit .130 at the net.

CUW returns to the court on Friday when it travels to Oshkosh, Wis., for the Pizza Hut Classic hosted by UW-Oshkosh. It is scheduled to play UW-Oshkosh at 3:30 p.m. before playing Martin Luther at 5:30 p.m. Saturday's opponents are yet to be determined.