ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University volleyball team picked up a straight sets win (25-18, 25-13, 26-24) over Alderson-Broaddus Tuesday night in the home opener at the Carter Center.
The Mountain Lions improve to 6-8 on the season while A-B is 0-14.
CU got off to a fast start as it opened the first set on a 9-1 run to take command and not look back in game one. Junior setter
Casey Mandeville provided two of her career-high six aces while junior middle hitter
Alexis Elliott had three kills in the stretch. The Battlers got as close as 21-17 in the first set, but could not hold the momentum as three straight errors and a kill from redshirt freshman outside hitter
Ellie Lawrence end the first set.
Both teams traded points early in the second set as Concord was holding onto a 14-11 lead. However, the Mountain Lions finished on an 11-2 run to win set two. In the late burst, Mandeville notched two more service aces whilefreshman middle hitter
Emily Ellis, sophomore middle hitter
Brooke Heck, sophomore middle hitter
Lindsay Lannen and sophomore outside hitter
Alexi Pranckus all recorded a kill.
The third set saw neither team lead by more than four points. CU opened up a 15-11 cushion, but quickly saw it fade as A-B closed to within 16-15 and then tie the third set at 22-22. Heck tallied a kill to give CU a 23-22 edge. After the Battlers fought back to tie it at 24-24, Heck provided another clutch kill to put Concord up 25-24 before an Alderson-Broaddus ended the match.
Along with Mandeville, Tuesday night was a career match for Elliott as she recorded a double-double of 10 kills and 10 blocks. It was her first double-digit kill game of the season and she broke her previous career-high of six blocks. The Brooklyn, Michigan native also joined junior middle hitter
Shea Hoffman as the second CU player to register 10 or more blocks this season.
Mandeville added 18 assists to go along with her six aces. Heck added 10 kills and five blocks while sophomore libero
Erin Shannon dug out 16 balls.
As a team, the Mountain Lions had 15 blocks, which matched a season-high set against Southern New Hampshire September 3.
Concord welcomes in the defending national champion in Wheeling Jesuit to the Carter Center 5:00 p.m. Friday.
Â
