BUENA VISTA, Va. – The Concord University volleyball split a triangular at Southern Virginia Tuesday, falling to Virginia Union in four sets before bouncing back to take a five-set win from the host.
CU improves to 4-7 on the season while Virginia Union is 4-1 and SVU is now 1-5.
Match 1: Virginia Union 3 – Concord 1
The Panthers took the first two sets, 25-22 and 25-19, but Concord fought back to win the third set 25-21. VUU took the fourth set 25-22.
In set three, CU jumped out to a 13-6 lead that was setup by a kill apiece from junior middle hitter
Alexis Elliott, freshman outside hitter
Emily Ellis, sophomore middle hitter
Brooke Heck, junior middle hitter
Shea Hoffman and sophomore outside hitter
Alexi Pranckus along with some errors from VUU.
Virginia Union pulled to within 19-18 after a 12-6 run. However, Elliott and Hoffman each tallied a kill to put Concord ahead 21-18 as it went on to win the third set 25-21. But CU could not keep the momentum going into the fourth set.
Pranckus notched 11 kills while Ellis had 10. Junior setter
Casey Mandeville recorded 31 of CU's 41 assists to go along with 10 digs.
Match 2: Concord 3 – Southern Virginia 2
Concord erased a 2-0 deficit and outlasted Southern Virginia in five sets to split the two matches.
SVU won the first two set 27-25 and 28-26 before the Mountain Lions rallied to win 25-21 and 25-22 in the third and fourth sets. CU took the decisive fifth set 15-10.
Facing elimination in the third set, the Maroon and Gray fell behind 14-10, but it went on a 12-3 run to take command of set three. Hoffman and redshirt freshman outside hitter
Ellie Lawrence combined for seven kills during the run.
The early stages of the fourth set was back and forth and tied at 10, however, Concord used a 9-3 run to earn some breathing room. Included in that spurt was two kills from Pranckus while Ellis and Lawrence added one each.
In the fifth set, CU turned a 2-2 tie into a 10-5 lead as it went on to in the fifth set, 15-10.
Pranckus recorded her first double-double of the season with 12 kills and 10 digs while Lawrence notched her first career double-double of 12 kills and 15 digs. Ellis and Hoffman each had 10 kills.
Mandeville put together a match of 32 assists and 11 digs. Sophomore libero
Erin Shannon had 24 digs.
Concord has a 10-day layoff and will be back in action 7:00 p.m. September 23 to open Mountain East Conference play at Charleston.
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