Concord splits on day two at Rollins Invitational
WINTER PARK, Fla. – The Concord University volleyball team went 1-1 in its final two matches at the Rollins College Invitational Saturday, losing to St. Mary’s before rebounding with a sweep of Ursuline.
Match 1: St. Mary’s 3 – Concord 0 (23-25, 19-25, 13-25)
After a hard fought first set went to St. Mary’s, Concord (1-3) could not keep pace with the Rattlers for the remainder of the match.
The Mountain Lions owned the early stages of the match as it built a lead of 13-8 after a kill from junior right side Maddie Stull, and still had a 16-12 edge after a St. Mary’s service error. However, the Rattlers fought back to tie the set at 19-19, eventually going up 22-20. A kill by senior outside hitter Meg Williams and a block from Stull and sophomore middle hitter Addie Adkins tied the set at 22-22. St. Mary’s had the final spurt of the set to go up 1-0.
CU had its best offensive set of the match by hitting .250 in the second game with 13 kills. However, St. Mary’s hit over .300 in set to take a 2-0 lead.
The Mountain Lions were held in check during the third set as they only registered five kills.
Stull, Williams and senior outside hitter Chloe Thompson all had seven kills. Senior setter Paige Richmond went for 15 assists paired with seven digs.
Match 2: Concord 3 – Urusline 0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-12)
The Mountain Lions never trailed in the match as it rolled to a sweep of the Arrows to pick up its first win of the season.
Despite hitting .245 in the opener and jumping out to a 5-1 lead, CU had to hold off a late charge by Ursuline. Up 21-17, Concord watched UC run off four of the next five points to get within 22-21. A service error by the Arrows coupled with a Stull kill put Concord a point away before Williams closed the game with one of her game-best 15 kills.
Concord scored six straight points in the early going of the second set to open up a 10-4 lead on its way to a 12-point set win. The Mountain Lions hit a match-best .361 in the middle game.
The third set was much of the same as CU finished off the sweep.
CU hit .296 in the third set as it finished the contest with a .295 hitting clip. The Mountain Lions started the set on an 11-3 run with Adkins and Williams capping the spurt. Adkins added another kill as the lead swelled to 14-3.
Williams notched her first double-double of the season with 15 kills and 12 digs. Adkins, Stull and Thompson all had six kills each. Richmond was one dig shy of a double-double with 19 assists and nine digs. Senior setter Haley Sweeney chipped in 18 assists.
Concord travels to Ferrum 7:00 p.m. Tuesday in non-conference action.
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