ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University volleyball team went 1-1 in the first full day of the Concord Classic inside the Carter Center Friday.
The Mountain Lions (2-4) dropped a five-set match in the morning to Ohio Valley, but returned to down West Virginia Wesleyan in four games to close the day.
Match 1: Ohio Valley 3 – Concord 2 (25-19, 27-29, 25-17, 19-25, 15-10)
Concord rebounded from a slow start and forced a decisive fifth set, but the Fighting Scots edged out the Mountain Lions.
After losing the first set, CU and Ohio Valley went toe-to-toe in a long second game. Down 26-25, Concord received a couple of unforced errors from OVU to grab a narrow 27-26 lead.
The Fighting Scots came back with a point, but kills from freshman libero
Lindsay Maddox and junior outside hitter
Alexi Pranckus pushed Concord to a 29-27 set win.
Ohio Valley came out swinging in the third set to gain an all-important 2-1 lead in the match. Junior middle hitter
Brooke Heck and sophomore outside hitter
Ellie Lawrence combined for six kills in the fourth set to push the match to a fifth and final game.
OVU was able to jump out to an 11-5 lead in the set and earned a 15-10 win and three games to two match victory.
Lawrence tallied a team-high 12 kills while Heck added 10. Senior setter
Casey Mandeville notched 26 assists and eight digs. Maddox finished with 21 digs.
Match 2: Concord 3 – West Virginia Wesleyan 1 (25-22, 25-20, 24-26, 25-21)
Heck, Lawrence and Pranckus combined for 39 of Concord's 54 kills as the Mountain Lions held off a late WVWC charge.
The first set was tight throughout until Concord--up 19-17—rattled four of the next five points to gain a 23-18 edge in route to a 1-0 advantage. Lawrence recorded a kill while the Bobcats had three errors to aid the CU rally.
Concord slowly pulled away from Wesleyan in the second set. Down 24-16, WVWC scored four points in a row as it threatened to tighten the set. However, senior middle hitter
Shea Hoffman tallied one of her four kills in the match to end the second set.
The Bobcats won a thrilling four set. But, the Mountain Lions stirred away Wesleyan in the fourth set.
With the fourth set going back and forth—tied at 15-15—Ellis and Heck combined for five of the final 10 points for CU on kills.
Ellis was stellar in the match as she registered 15 kills, a .536 hitting percentage and nine blocks. Heck added 14 kills and a hitting percentage of .462. Pranckus was also in double figures with 10 kills.
Mandeville and sophomore setter
Jenna Mounts went for 28 and 17 assists, respectively. Maddox had 25 digs.
The Concord Classic continues Saturday with CU on the court at 11 a.m. versus Shaw and again at 7 p.m. against Salem International.
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