ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Indiana Tech women's volleyball team defeated Concordia University 3-1 (25-21, 25-15, 16-25, 25-17) Wednesday evening inside Cardinal Fieldhouse. The win moves the Warriors into third place in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) with just three matches left to play in the regular season.
Taylor Paul had a match-high 14 kills while
Emma Westra contributed 11 kills and 11 digs.
Noelle VanOort had seven kills and 14 digs while
Jacey Blust notched 24 digs.
Andrea Schriver dished out 25 assists while Kelsey Schladenbrand had 17 assists.
The Cardinals held the early advantage in the first set with an 8-5 lead, but the Warriors stormed back with a 4-0 run to go up 10-9. A 7-2 run from Tech put them up 19-14 and forced the Cardinals to call a timeout. The visitors pushed their lead up to 23-16 thanks to another 4-0 spurt to make the hosts use their final timeout. Concordia battled back with a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to 23-21, but back-to-back kills from Paul sealed the win for Tech.
The Warriors raced ahead to an 11-4 lead in the second that included three straight service aces from Blust and another by
Olivia Gessner. Tech pushed the lead up to 21-10 with another ace from Schladenbrand as they cruised to the 10-point win.
Concordia controlled the action to start off the third with a 12-8 run that included a 5-0 spurt forcing the Warriors to take a timeout. A 6-0 run from the Cardinals put them ahead 19-11 as the Warriors used their last timeout, but were unable to make a dent in the deficit as the hosts pushed the match to a fourth set.
The Orange and Black came out swinging in the fourth with an 8-3 run that forced the Cardinals to call an early timeout. Concordia came out of the break with a 9-1 spurt to go ahead 12-9 and the two sides traded leads and momentum swings. A 5-0 run from Tech put them ahead 18-15 and while the Cardinals took the next two points, the Warriors end the match on a 7-0 run to seal the victory and the season sweep.
Tech (21-11, 13-4 WHAC) returns to action Friday as they start their final regular season homestand of the year with a matchup against conference leader Madonna University. First serve is set for 7 p.m. from the Schaefer Center.
