DENVER, Colo. – The #1 Concordia University volleyball team (6-1) bounced back this afternoon with a sweep of #4 BYU-Hawaii (3-2) on the campus of Regis University in a rematch of last season's national championship match.
Coming off last night's sweep at the hands of Tampa, the Golden Bears used a strong all-around performance to get back in the win column. Concordia outplayed the Seasiders in nearly every category as they out-hit BYU-H .333 to .183, has 7.0 blocks compared to 5.0, had 56 digs against 34 and led five aces to four.
Mariya Sampson led the Golden Bear attack in what was a breakout performance as she collected a career-high 16 kills on just 28 attempts to finish with a solid .464 hitting percentage. Sampson was joined by
Riley Hanson and
Anna Schlaak in double-digits in kills with 13 and 12, respectively. Despite having only eight attempts,
Heather Schiller made an impact with six kills, three blocks and a service ace as well.
In the back row, Libero
Taylor Dordan was steady with a match-best 18 digs, good for her season high.
Kasey Williams also got into the act defensively with 14 digs along with her 40 assists to give her four double-doubles in her last five matches.
After Concordia stormed out to a 4-0 lead, the Golden Bears seemed to be in control of the first set. The Seasiders, however, fought back to take a 20-18 lead, but couldn't hold off CU. After trading the next four points, the Golden Bears grabbed the last five points of the set to claim at 25-22 set win. Hanson and Schlaak each got off to quick starts as Hanson had six kills and Schlaak had five in the set.
Concordia took an early lead again in the second but wouldn't relinquish the lead throughout. The lead ballooned to as large as eight on multiple occasions as they never really allowed BYU-Hawaii to work their way back in it. CU took the set 25-17, led by Sampson's seven kills, to pull out to a 2-0 lead.
The third set was the most competitive in the match as neither team held a lead larger than three. The Golden Bears seemed to have an answer every time the Seasiders would start to build a little bit of momentum. After BYU-H tied it at 21, Concordia used three kills from
Mariya Sampson as they took four of the final five points to complete the sweep with a 25-22 win in the set. Sampson saved her best for last as she picked up eight kills in the final set.
Concordia concludes their action in the Colorado Premier Challenge and in their non-conference schedule this evening as they take on Colorado Mesa at 6:00 p.m.
