Scheele, Schade Send Eagles to Quarterfinals

Box Score 

(11/29/07 - Women's Volleyball) COLUMBIA, Mo. - Third-seeded Concordia made it three wins all coming in just three games after a 30-20, 30-26, 30-27 victory over #8-seeded Mt. Vernon Nazarene (Ohio), Friday afternoon at the NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championships.

The Eagles improved to 9-1 all-time in pool play as they battled a pesky Cougars' side that was looking to pick up its first-ever win on the national stage. Instead, the Eagles showed the poise to keep them on track toward the ultimate goal of the national title. Junior outside hitter Stephanie Scheele had her best match of the tournament with 11 kills and a .333 hitting clip while junior middle Bailey Schade hit .615 and tallied 8 kills and 3 blocks.

Despite yet another slow start to the opening game, the Eagles took control midway through the opening stanza to post the most comfortable of their three first frame wins. The Cougars came out strong and built a 7-1 lead, but the Eagles would battle back to level the game at 15-15.

The first lead would come at 17-16 after the second of consecutive Cougar hitting errors, then Chelsea Scott added an ace to send the Eagles on their way. Schade had five kills on just seven swings while also tallying a pair of blocks to go along with four kills from Scheele.

Game two was a see-saw battle throughout as both teams held slim leads on several occasions. A kill by Lindsey Campbell helped the Eagles build a 23-20 advantage that looked set to stretch further, but the Cougars scored four of the next five points to level the teams at 24-24 and force a Concordia timeout.

The Cougars got a kill from Jackie Albrecht out of the timeout, but their offense would dry up after that. Scheele tied things up with a kill, then Traci Weamer and Schade added tallies after a Cougar attack error for a 28-25. Scheele wrapped up the game after the teams had traded points to double the advantage.

The Eagles stumbled out of the gates at the outset of game three and trailed for the majority of the game, but once again dug deep and found a way to earn the victory. Ashley Robbins sparked a 5-1 stretch with the team down 14-9 to close the gap to one, then the first tie finally came after a kill by Scheele and Cougar hitting error.

Scheele helped break a 24-24 tie with a kill, then Robbins fired an ace before the Cougars committed another error. Shena Beheler helped close the gap to 28-27 for the Cougars with back-to-back kills after another kill by Scheele, but Jenna Friedrich saved her first kill for a perfect time, giving the team the only match point it would need. Schade and Weamer wrapped things up with a block to close out the match.

Campbell continued her strong play with 7 kills and 4 blocks, Weamer had 9 kills and a match-best 17 digs while Robbins tallied 9 kills, 4 digs and 2 service aces. Beheler led all player with 16 kills for Mt. Vernon Nazarene (39-5) while Albrecht and Courtney Springer each had 9 kills.

Concordia (29-5) battles #6-seeded Lindenwood (Mo.) on Friday, November 30 in the last of four quarterfinal matches with start time set for 8:30 p.m. (CST). The match can be viewed on a pay-per-view basis from The Arena at Southwell Complex. Click here to access the log-in page for the webcast.