Concord Downs Virginia State 3-1

ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University volleyball team defeated Virginia State 3-1 on Sunday afternoon in a non-conference matchup inside the Carter Center.
 
Final Score: Concord 3 – Virginia State 1 (25-17, 23-25, 25-18, 25-20)
 
Set 1
Two kills from freshman outside hitter Chloe Thompson and a kill from senior middle hitter Kyndra Pilant gave CU an early 6-3 lead in the opening set. The Mountain Lions charged another run in the latter half of the set to take a five-point advantage behind kills from freshman outside hitter Meg Williams and freshman right side Natalie Brown. Back-to-back kills from Williams would close the first set in favor of the Mountain Lions, 25-17.
 
Set 2
CU answered a 5-0 run by the Trojans with a 5-0 run of its own with two kills from Pilant and an ace from Williams. Concord found itself in another deficit, but a 4-0 run on back-to-back-to-back attack errors from VSU knotted the game at 13-13. Williams smashed four kills in the later goings of the set, but Virginia State would tie the game at 1-1 by a final score of 25-23.
 
Set 3
Two aces from freshman defensive specialist Allie Davis fueled a 10-4 start for the Mountain Lions. CU extended its lead to 18-10 with Williams picking up a pair of kills. Kills from senior middle hitter Csayjah Whitelow and freshman middle hitter Meagan Poticher gave Concord a 2-1 set advantage, 25-18.  
 
Set 4
Aces from freshman setters Declyn Tooze and Paige Richmond gave CU an early three-point edge, 11-8. A Trojan run was quickly denied by Williams, who fired off back-to-back kills and Tooze collected another ace to push the scoring 17-13 in favor of Concord. Thompson's 18^th kill and Williams' 22^nd kill of the afternoon would improve Concord to 9-3 on the season with the fourth and final set finishing 25-20.
 
Match Stats
Williams (22) and Thomson (18) led the match in kills. Williams hit .264 in the match, while Thompson slugged .400. Fifteen of Williams' 22 kills came after the second set. Davis finished the game with 20 digs and two aces. Richmond totaled 27 assists with two aces and Tooze had 21 assists and three aces. Brown finished with four blocks, Pilant collected three blocks, and Whitelow added two blocks.

The Mountain Lions open up Mountain East Conference play on Friday against Frostburg State at 7:00 p.m. inside the Carter Center.