ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University volleyball team was narrowly edged by West Virginia Wesleyan Saturday afternoon in Mountain East Conference play at the Carter Center.
Concord (5-21, 2-9 MEC) won the first and third games 25-15 and 25-19 as the Bobcats (6-16, 5-6 MEC) won the other three sets 25-18, 25-22, 15-8.
The Mountain Lions came out of the gate strong as they grabbed 13 of the first 20 points of the match. WVWC had eight errors to aid the Concord start. Senior middle hitter
Brooke Heck did have a kill and a service ace during the spurt. Wesleyan was never able to get closer than six points as CU easily dispatched for the Bobcats in the first set.
WVWC used a run halfway through the second game to even up the match at 1-1. Leading 13-11, Wesleyan scored seven of the next 10 points to open up a 20-14 advantage. CU got back to within 22-17 after a service ace from junior libero
Erin Shannon, but never any closer.
Concord led for most of the third set, but had to finish strong to put away the Bobcats in the game. Down 18-13, Wesleyan scored three straight points to cut the CU advantage. However, a kill from Heck and senior outside hitter
Alexi Pranckus bumped the Concord lead back up to 20-16 as the Mountain Lions won the third set.
A late run in the fourth set stalled out for the Mountain Lions as WVWC forced a decisive fifth game. Trailing 19-15, consecutive kills from Heck and Pranckus got CU within two points before a service ace from Shannon and a Wesleyan error tied the game, 19-19. But, the Bobcats scored four of the next six points, going on to win the set.
Wesleyan jumped out to a 9-3 lead on its way to winning the fifth game 15-8.
Heck and Pranckus finished the matched with 14 kills each. Heck hit .423 in the match with just two errors in 26 attempts. Both setters for Concord, junior
Jenna Mounts and freshman
Imani Rodgers, each had 20 assists. Shannon finished the contest with 20 digs.
The Mountain Lions play their final six matches of the season on the road, starting 7:00 p.m. Friday at West Liberty.
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