Cardinals battle back from 2 set deficit to take down the Gray Wolves

Cardinals battle back from 2 set deficit to take down the Gray Wolves

(Ann Arbor, MI) The Cardinal Volleyball team played their first of four home games to round out the regular season this Saturday afternoon against the Gray Wolves from Lourdes. The Cardinals and Gray Wolves came into the matchup 6th and 7th in the WHAC, with the Cardinals 2 games ahead of Lourdes. While Lourdes took the first two sets, the Cardinals bounced back and won 3 straight to improve to a winning record within the WHAC.

 

Setter Abigail Austin recorded a new career high 64 assists in the five set match, putting her 9 away from a thousand on the season. Three Cardinals had double digit kills, with Kayla Peters leading the pack with 23, a career high of her own. Kaitlin Veihl and Breann June had 16 and 13 kills respectively to round out the Cardinals top scorers.

 

Set 1 - LU 25, CUAA 21

Breann June started off the match with an ace and Kayla Peters made it 2-0 with a kill after that. The Cardinals would grow the lead to four at one point, but from there on out the set remained within three until Lourdes' Kourtney Ellison would get five kills in a spread of eight rallies. Lourdes would then keep the advantage all the way to a four point win.

 

Set 2 - LU 27, CUAA 25

The Cardinals came into the second set hot, making it 7-0 quickly thanks to a pair of Veihl aces, two Madalyn Lisman kills, and a trio of Kayla Peters kills. However, the Gray Wolves slowly but surely ate away at the Concordia lead, finally knotting things up at 24. Lourdes won 8 of the final 10 points to make the match 2-0 in their favor.  

 

Set 3 - CUAA 28, LU 26

The third set was closely contested as the teams were tied a total of 15 times throughout. Concordia's biggest run came early in the set and was spurred on by a couple of service aces from Korie Fowler. Following that, the teams traded points for nearly the entire set until the Cardinals were able to edge out the Gray Wolves with their 28th point.

 

Set 4 - CUAA 25, LU 17

In least contested set of the afternoon, the Concordia attack benefited from a variety of Cardinals, with Tara Drinane, Kayla Peters, Alexandra Lucaj, Kaitlin Veihl, and Breann June all getting in on the action. McKenzie Peters and Abigail Austin added in an ace each to help the Cardinals even the sets at 2 a piece.

 

Set 5 - CUAA 15, LU 12

Much like the majority of the game, the deciding set was tight throughout. The Cardinals grew the lead to four before a Lourdes timeout swung the momentum back to the Gray Wolves temporarily. A pair of Alexandra Lucaj kills down the stretch proved to be the difference in a hard fought WHAC matchup.

 

 

The Cards will enter the final week of the regular season with three home matches on the docket. The first of those will be on Wednesday, November 3rd against Cornerstone. First serve will be at 7:00 PM in the Cardinal Field House.