pensacola, fla. - newcomer megan carlson put up a 15-kill, 10-dig double double in her first match as a golden bear, leading the squad to a 2009 season opener win over eckerd college (0-1) in three sets, 25-20, 25-20, 25-23. Concordia (1-0) took their first win of the season in pensacola, fla., where they will play four matches at the west florida comfort inn-vitational on friday and saturday. Next up for cu is #15 west florida in a match that will be webcast at 7:00 pm this evening at www.goargos.com.
it was two newcomers to the golden bear squad that got the match rolling for concordia on friday afternoon. megan carlson, a division i transfer athlete from marshall university, and michelle graham, a cu freshman, each put down four kills from the outside in the opening set of the season. The golden bears hit .273 to eckerd college's mere .074 average in the set, but the tritons answered with stronger play in the following sets.
concordia went up 16-9 in the second set of the match behind the offensive power of senior sadie kessler, carlson and graham. Eckerd college came back to within a point at 20-19, however, gaining kills from lydee benoit and ariana chinn. With a solid defense behind her to keep rallies alive, carlson finished off the match with a set of kills and a service ace on game point to put the golden bears up 2-0.
golden bear hitters uncharacteristically struggled in the final set of the win, but the team pulled things together with the help of key blocks and ec errors to go up 1-0 on the season and increase their current active winning streak to 38 matches.
carlson was matched in her double-double effort by senior maggie mcnamara with 38 assists and a team high 11 digs. Kessler finished the match with 12 kills, nine digs and three block assists. kasey woodcock had three block assists to go with four kills. Graham had seven kills on the afternoon, matching emily palkert in the column. The golden bears had a .229 hitting average, 45 digs and six team blocks.
eckerd college improved their hitting mark to .200 on the match. Chinn and benoit each reached double figures in kills with 11 and 10 each, respectively. The tritons had 34 digs and four blocks.
