ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University volleyball team defeated King University in four sets (25-17, 25-14, 23-25, 25-14) in non-conference action Tuesday night at the Carter Center.
The Mountain Lions improve to 10-9 overall while the Tornado drop to 6-10.
CU slowly pulled away from King in the first set. After holding a two-point lead 12-10, Concord used a 5-1 run to create some cushion. In the spurt, sophomore outside hitter
Alexi Pranckus had two kills. The Tornado were able to get back to within 19-15, but the Maroon and Gray scored four of the next five points to win by eight in set one.
Concord wasted no time in the second set to build a 12-4 margin after a service ace from redshirt freshman outside hitter
Ellie Lawrence. Also included in the early run was two kills from junior middle hitter
Alexis Elliott as well as a kill a piece from freshman outside hitter
Emily Ellis, sophomore middle hitter
Brooke Heck, junior middle hitter
Shea Hoffman and Lawrence.
King fought back to close the cap to 15-12 before Elliott notched three more kills to help CU to a 25-14 second set victory.
King rallied to win a tightly-contested third set that featured seven ties. The Tornado took the third game 25-23.
The early stages of the fourth set went back and forth and was tied at 10-10 before CU reeled off six straight points. In those six points was a kill each from Heck and Pranckus while sophomore libero
Erin Shannon provided a service ace. The Tornado would get no closer than six points in the remainder of the set as Concord closed a four-set win, 25-14.
Lawrence finished the match with a team-best 12 kills to go along with a .357 hitting percentage. Heck, the reigning MEC Player of the Week, tallied 11 kills, five blocks and a hitting percentage of .364.
Pranckus collected eight kills and 15 digs.
Junior setter
Casey Mandeville (28) and freshman setter
Jenna Mounts (17) combined for 45 assists while Shannon notched 17 digs.
The Mountain Lions travel to Notre Dame 5:00 p.m. Friday for two-match Ohio swing that also includes a 9:00 a.m. match Saturday at Urbana.
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