ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University volleyball team defeated West Virginia Wesleyan in four sets and Winston-Salem State in three games in a triangular match at the Carter Center Saturday.
The Mountain Lions improve to 13-11 overall and 6-4 in the Mountain East Conference. WWVC is 7-17 on the season and 2-8 in the MEC play while Winston-Salem State is now 15-10.
Match 1: Concord 3 – West Virginia Wesleyan 1 (24-26, 25-21, 25-21, 25-19)
CU came out of the gate quick as it held a 7-3 lead 10 points into the match. However, Wesleyan came roaring back with an 18-10 spurt to take a 21-17 edge.
The Mountain Lions scored the next four points as sophomore middle hitter
Brooke Heck and redshirt freshman outside hitter
Ellie Lawrence each had one kill. But, WVWC scored five of the next seven points to take set one, 26-24.
Once again, in set two, CU took an early 9-3 lead. Like in set one, the Bobcats pulled even at 16-16 after a 13-7 spurt. Down 19-17, the Mountain Lions finished the set on a 6-2 run to even up the match at one set a piece. Heck netted two kills while Lawrence and sophomore outside hitter
Alexi Pranckus each had one. Freshman setter
Jenna Mounts ended the set with a service ace.
The third set was a back-and-forth affair. With the game tied 21-21, junior middle hitter
Shea Hoffman and sophomore middle hitter
Lindsay Lannen each had a kill to lift the Mountain Lions to a 25-22 set win and a 2-1 advantage in the match.
CU was able to pull away from Wesleyan in the middle stages of set four as CU turned a 15-15 tie into a 21-17 advantage. The run was helped out by some WVWC errors. Freshman outside hitter
Emily Ellis finished the match by slamming down a kill in the middle of the net to give CU a 3-1 match win.
Heck and Lawrence each finished with 13 kills, and for Lawrence it set a new career single-game best. Sophomore libero
Erin Shannon notched a personal-best 35 digs. In two matches against WVWC this season, Shannon recorded 69 digs.
Ellis added eight kills and eight blocks.
As part of a season-high 17 team blocks, Hoffman had eight as well while Heck contributed seven.
Junior setter
Casey Mandeville tallied 31 assists.
Match 2: Concord 3 – Winston-Salem State 0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-23)
The Mountain Lions swept WSSU in the nightcap.
Concord used anwq 11-7 run in the middle part of set one to strengthen its lead from 10-6 to 21-13, taking set one by a comfortable 11 points. Heck, Hoffman and Lannen each one kill for the Maroon and Gray with junior libero
Nicci Hutzell adding a service ace.
The Rams kept it close with CU in the early part of the second game, but the Mountain Lions slowly pulled away finishing on a 10-5 run to take a commanding 2-0 lead. Seven different CU players recorded kills in the final 10 points including two from Heck.
Winston-Salem State did not go quietly in the third game. WSSU led 21-20 in game three. After a kill from Ellis and consecutive kills from Hoffman, Concord was up 23-21. Heck finished off the Rams with her 10
th kill of the match to secure a win for CU.
Heck had the team high in kills with Ellis adding nine.
Pranckus had six service aces in the match, a career high. Shannon added 14 digs and Mounts collected 18 assists.
Concord travels to West Liberty 2:00 p.m. Tuesday as it continues MEC play.
Â
