SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The final match of the 2017 season was one of the best of the NAIA National Tournament but unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, the No. 1 ranked Lindsey Wilson College Blue Raiders had just a little more as they won a 5-set thriller on Thursday morning. The 20-25, 25-22, 25-23, 17-25, 11-15 loss ends the campaign for head coach
Ryan Campbell and his team with an overall record of 28-8.
Match Flow…
Coming into the match, Lindsey Wilson was 30-0 and winners of their last 84 sets so the task ahead of CU was a tall one. The opening set saw the Blue Raiders grab an early lead but CU hung around and trailed by just one at 18-17. Three straight points from LWC gave them a 21-17 lead and they went on to win 25-20.
Set two was another strong battle with the Golden Eagles jumping out to a nice 10-6 lead. That margin increased to as many as six at 17-11 but LWC rallied to close the gap to 18-15. After a kill from
Kendra Zwart, CU pushed their lead back to five at 20-15 only to see Lindsey Wilson close to within 23-21. CU then scored two of the final three points to post the 25-22 win. It marked only the second set loss for the Blue Raiders all season and first since the middle of August.
The two teams put on a show in the third set as the lead was never more than two in the first 10 points before CU used a 6-3 spurt to go ahead 16-13, forcing LWC into a timeout. Lindsey Wilson responded out of the timeout as they scored 10 of the next 17 points to tie it up at 23-23 with CU taking a timeout. Out of the break,
Jackie Stanko put a ball away down the line and CU claimed the 25-23 win after a Blue Raider error on the following point.
Needing only one set to pull of the tourney's biggest upset, CU struggled coming out of the fourth set break as LWC raced out to a 10-4 lead and they never really looked back. The closest the Golden Eagles got was five at 16-11 as the Blue Raiders won 25-17 to send the match into a fifth set.
Cornerstone came out strong behind a balanced attack in the deciding set and went into the side-switch leading 8-4. LWC responded with a 6-0 run to take a 10-8 lead only to see the Golden Eagles scored three of the next four to knot it at 11-11. A couple of miscues by CU and two kills by LWC were the difference as the Blue Raiders survived with a 15-11 win.
Notes…
Up Next?
Cornerstone concludes their season at 28-8 overall. CU will graduate four outstanding student athletes in
Ellie Van Laar,
Hope Leppink,
Maria Ma and
Heather Carlson and
Abby Carlson.
Volleyball Contact:
Aaron Sagraves
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