Concord Defeats UVa.-Wise in Straight Sets

ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University volleyball team swept UVa.-Wise in three sets Tuesday night in Mountain East Conference action at the Carter Center.

The Mountain Lions won the sets, 25-17, 27-25, 25-19, and improves to 7-9 overall and 2-2 in conference play. UVa.-Wise, meanwhile, drops to 2-17 on the season and 1-3 in the MEC.

After the Cavaliers took a 5-2 lead early in the first set, CU went on a 10-5 run and grabbed a 12-10 edge it would not relinquish in the set one. In the run, junior middle hitter Shea Hoffman, sophomore middle hitter Lindsay Lannen and sophomore outside hitter Alexi Pranckus combined for six of Concord's seven kills.

UVa.-Wise came back to within 17-16, but sophomore middle hitter Brooke Heck thumped down four kills over CU's final eight points helping the Mountain Lions take a 1-0 lead.

The second set was back-and-forth as it featured 13 ties. With the set even at 23-23, redshirt freshman outside hitter Ellie Lawrence notched three kills that was answered by UVa.-Wise, but Pranckus came through with a diving effort on an attack attempt that crossed back over the net and landed with no UVa.-Wise player in the vicinity to clinch a 27-25 set win.

The Mountain Lions took advantage of some Cavaliers' errors to start the third set as they jumped out to an 11-5 advantage. At the same time, five different Concord players, junior middle hitter Alexis Elliott, Heck, Hoffman, Lawrence and Pranckus, each had a kill to begin the third set. The Cavaliers were able to come back and tie the set at 19-19 before CU won the final six points to sweep UVa.-Wise.

Heck finished the match with a game-high 14 kills while hitting .619. Lawrence notched 10 kills and a career-high three service aces.

Hoffman and Lannen combined for 14 kills and nine blocks. Junior setter Casey Mandeville handed out 25 assists while freshman setter Jenna Mounts added 18 assists. Sophomore libero Erin Shannon tallied 19 digs.

The Mountain Lions continue MEC play this weekend as they travel to West Virginia Wesleyan 7:00 p.m. Friday.