Women's Volleyball wins fourth-straight CIVT title

RIVER FOREST, Ill. -- Make that four-consecutive titles for Concordia Wisconsin at the Concordia Invitational Volleyball Tournament. The Falcons swept Concordia Ann Arbor to begin the day before defeating host Concordia Chicago 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.

THE BASICS
Final Scores: Concordia Wisconsin 3, Concordia Ann Arbor 0 (25-13, 25-19, 25-23); Concordia Wisconsin 3, Concordia Ann Arbor 1 (25-19, 25-16, 24-26, 25-22)
Location: Geiseman Gymnasium (River Forest, Ill.)
Records: Concordia Wisconsin 2-2, Concordia Ann Arbor 1-2, Concordia Chicago 0-2

HOW IT HAPPENED
- Concordia Wisconsin responded nicely after a difficult Friday in which it lost a pair of matches against tough competition. Saturday was all about the celebration as they will bring the CIVT trophy back to Mequon for the fourth consecutive year.
Concordia Wisconsin 3, Concordia Ann Arbor 0
- The Falcons began the day against Concordia Ann Arbor and cruised to a 3-0 sweep after the defense limited the Cardinals to a dismal -.032 attack percentage. Meanwhile, the offense was clicking with a .228 attack percentage and burst of the gates with a .385 percent in the opening set, which included a 7-0 lead to start the match.
- Concordia Wisconsin led 7-0, 12-2, 18-8 before winning the first set and putting the cruise control on the rest of the way. In all, 10 players had a kill and four had five or more. Senior Holly Anderson (Grant Park, Ill.) led the way with nine kills, while sophomore Makenzie Vertz (Mukwonago, Wis.) had a double-double with 16 assists and 11 digs. Junior Cristina Stinson (Aurora, Ill.) added 11 assists and four service aces. Senior Kendall Stribling (Greenfield, Wis.) had a solo block and four assisted blocks.
Concordia Wisconsin 3, Concordia Chicago 1
- The Falcons again were on first to start a match, hitting .414 in the opening set. The offense cooled off before answering with a .286 attack percentage in the final set to close the door on the CIVT title.
- Senior Megan Mayer (Downers Grove, Ill.) led all players with 14 kills, while Anderson and sophomore Olivia Richter (Naperville, Ill.) had 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Vertz and Stinson combined for 37 assists. Vertz had her third double-double after digging 13 attack attempts. Senior Arianna Richmond (South Elgin, Ill.) led all players with 16 digs and Richter had four block assists.

MATCH NOTES
- Concordia Wisconsin has now won 10-consecutive matches in the Concordia Invitational Volleyball Tournament. It was also the 10th time they have won the CIVT championship.
- The six seniors on the Falcons roster have never lost a match in the CIVT and have always held the trophy high.

NEXT ON THE SCHEDULE
- Concordia Wisconsin will have off until next weekend when it competes at the Pointer Invitational against host UW-Stevens Point, Carthage and Elmhurst.