Box Score
ATHENS, W. Va. – The Concord University volleyball team lost its Mountain East Conference opener to Shepherd University, 3-0 (25-18, 28-26, 25-18), Friday night at the Carter Center.
The loss drops Concord's record to 7-8 overall and 0-1 in the MEC. Shepherd improves to 5-6 overall and 1-0 in league play with the victory.
Concord was led by junior
Brytni Willis, who had eight kills and three blocks (zero solo / three assisted) on the night. The trio of senior
Rebecca Lovejoy, junior
Sarah Jones and senior
Jasmin Sutherland all recorded four kills behind Willis.
The middle hitter duo of Sutherland and freshman
Lauren Richardson tied for a match-high of five blocks. Both players had one solo block and four block assists. Jones also added four blocks of her own (one solo / three assisted).
Junior
Nikki McMillan came away with her second double-double of the season after posting 11 assists and 11 digs. Junior
Lindsey Smith tallied a team-high 14 digs. Freshman
Felicia Huerta's two aces were a season-high.
The Rams used a 9-3 run midway through the first set to pull ahead of the Mountain Lions 18-12 on the way to their 25-18 opening set victory.
Concord once again found itself trailing by a seemingly commanding five-point margin (20-15) in the second set, but CU was able to claw back into the game and eventually take a 25-24 lead over Shepherd off of a 10-4 run which featured kills from Sutherland and Jones, one of Huerta's aces as well as three Mountain Lion blocks. However, Concord was unable to close out Shepherd, which scored four of the sets final five points to escape with a 28-26 victory.
Shepherd once again grabbed an early five-point lead (13-8) to start the third set before Concord made another comeback bid, cutting the SU lead to as little as one point (18-17) before a Rams 8-1 run sealed the match for the visitors.
Concord returns to the court 1:00 p.m. Saturday against Fairmont State at the Carter Center.
