ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University volleyball team lost in five sets to West Virginia Tech Saturday evening in the finale of the Concord Classic at the Carter Center.
WVU Tech (11-3) won the match 25-21, 20-25, 21-25, 25-18 and 15-12 as the Mountain Lions (2-12) were unable to hang onto a 2-1 lead going to the fourth game.
The Golden Bears raced out a 6-1 lead to begin the match and first set. However, CU rallied to tie the set at 8-8 after a service ace by senior libero
Erin Shannon. The set had six more ties before WVUT opened up a 20-16 edge after a 15-15 deadlock. The Mountain Lions scored three straight points including a block from freshman right side
Camryn Huber and senior outside hitter
Alexi Pranckus, but 20-19 was close as they would get in the first game.
A run near the beginning of the second set gave Concord the margin it needed to win the game. Tied at 4-4, CU scored seven of the next nine points. Huber and senior outside hitter
Ellie Lawrence each added a kill while Shannon had another service ace to open up an 11-6 margin. Concord kept the lead at or above four points until a WVU Tech kill trimmed the edge to 20-18, but the Mountain Lions scored the next two points to seal the second set.
The Maroon and Gray got off to another hot start as it opened up a 6-2 lead in the third game after a kill from freshman middle hitter
Sheridan Herron. But the Golden Bears stormed back to tie the set at 12-12. And from there, neither team gained significant traction on the other. Tied at 20-20, an error on WVUT and a kill from senior middle hitter
Brooke Heck opened up a two-point gap to allow CU to win the third game.
West Virginia Tech went on a 6-0 run midway through the fourth game to grab a 19-13 lead on its way to winning the set and forcing a decisive fifth game.
Concord did not gain its first lead of the fifth set until 7-6 after a Golden Bears' attack error. A kill from Heck gave CU an 11-10 margin, but three straight points from West Virginia Tech was the difference as it went onto to win the set and match.
Heck finished with 16 kills, five blocks and a hitting percentage of .324. Lawrence went for 13 kills. Defensively, Pranckus recorded 21 digs.
Junior setter Jena Mounts had 24 assists while freshman setter
Imani Rodgers added 22 assists.
CU starts Mountain East Conference play 7:00 p.m. Friday at West Virginia Wesleyan.
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