Concord Prevails in Five Sets Against UVa.-Wise

WISE, Va. – The Concord University volleyball team won a five-set match over UVa.-Wise Tuesday night at the Prior Center in Mountain East Conference play.

Concord (7-23, 3-11 MEC) was able to hold off UVa.-Wise (5-23, 2-12 MEC) as the Mountain Lions won the first two games 25-19 and 25-22 before the Cavaliers took the third and fourth sets 26-24 and 25-22 to force a decisive fifth set. CU rebounded to win the game 15-6.

The Maroon and Gray came racing out from the start as back-to-back kills from freshman right side Camryn Huber concluded an 8-2 run to start the match. After the Cavaliers worked the CU advantage down to 9-7, Concord scored three straight points including a kill from senior outside hitter Alexi Pranckus, and UVa.-Wise was only able to get the Mountain Lion lead down to two once more over the remainder of the first set.

The second game was much more tightly contested. UVa.-Wise did jump out to a 9-5 lead, but once CU got the deficit back to 9-8 neither team led by more than two points until a setting error gave the Mountain Lions a 22-19 advantage. A kill from Pranckus late in the game helped Concord build a 2-0 lead in the match.

It appeared as though CU may be able to sweep past the Cavaliers after it built a 19-13 lead in the third set. However, UVa.-Wise went on a 9-3 run to tie the set at 22-22, then won four of the next six points to force a fourth set.

Down 17-11 in the fourth game, Concord rattled off four consecutive points to close within 17-15. Senior middle hitter Brooke Heck had two kills while Pranckus added a service ace in the spurt. But, the Cavaliers were able to hold off the CU rally any further, bringing the match to a fifth game.

UVa.-Wise scored five of the first eight points in the match to lead 5-3. However, Huber helped the Mountain Lions score nine straight points to go up 12-5. Huber had two kills in the run while Heck had a kill on match points to close things out.

Heck and Pranckus each had 13 kills with Heck adding five blocks.

Freshman setter Imani Rodgers had a career-best 28 assists. Junior setter Jenna Mounts collected a double-double of 28 assists and 15 digs. Junior libero Erin Shannon went for 25 digs in the match.

The Mountain Lions finish up the regular season this weekend starting with a road match at West Virginia State 7:00 p.m. Friday.