Concord Falls in Road Contest to Notre Dame

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The Concord University volleyball team dropped a Mountain East Conference road matchup against Notre Dame 3-0 Saturday at Murphy Gymnasium.
 
Final Score: Notre Dame 3, Concord 0 (26-24, 25-21, 25-16)
 
Set 1
The Mountain Lions (14-7, 4-3 MEC) shot out to an early 4-0 lead with a kill from senior middle hitter Kyndra Pilant and a pair of aces from freshman setter Paige Richmond. Freshman outside hitter Meg Williams supplied three points, two kills and an ace, to steady the CU lead 9-6. Kills from freshman outside hitter Chloe Thompson, senior middle hitter Csayjah Whitelow, and freshman right side Natalie Brown kept the scoring neck-and-neck as Notre Dame (6-10, 4-3 MEC) led 23-21. A late spike from Williams knotted the first set 24-24. A rally from NDC saw the Falcons take a 1-0 lead 26-24.
 
Set 2
CU fell behind early, but senior right side Reese Turner smashed a kill to bring the Mountain Lions within two, 10-8. Brown hauled in two kills, Thompson and Whitelow recorded one kill each to even the scoring 16-16. Two kills from Williams down the stretch would not be enough as the Falcons won the set 25-21.
 
Set 3
Freshman setter Declyn Tooze began the third set with back-to-back service aces as Concord grabbed an early advantage. Tooze then picked up her 12^th kill of the season with Thompson adding another kill as CU took an 8-7 edge. Williams and Brown picked up kills and Richmond added an ace in the latter half of the frame, but Notre Dame clinched its fourth MEC victory of the season, 25-16.
 
Match Stats
Williams was the only Mountain Lion to reach double-digit kills as she recorded 10 paired with nine digs, tied for the most with freshman defensive specialist Allie Davis. Thompson tallied eight kills and four digs in the match. Pilant had seven kills and finished with 2.5 blocks. Whitelow also finished with 2.5 blocks. Richmond collected 16 assists and added three aces, while Tooze had 11 assists and two aces.
 
Concord returns to action Friday to host Wheeling in a Mountain East Conference matchup starting at 7:00 p.m. inside the Carter Center.