Defense Does Job in GSAC Opener
Box Score
(9/6/07 - Women's Volleyball) IRVINE - Junior Stephanie Scheele had a team-high 11 kills to go along with four digs and three blocks to lead #2-ranked Concordia to a 30-13, 30-11, 32-30 win over visiting San Diego Christian, Thursday evening in the Golden State Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
The Eagles looked every bit the highly-touted team over the first two games of the match, posting team hitting marks of .455 and .407 while making just five total errors. On the other side of the net, the Hawks were held to negative hitting marks of -.024 and -.152.
Scheele did almost half of her damage in game one as she fired five of her kills on just nine attempts. In game two, she went to work on defense and tallied all three of her blocks as the Eagles had half of their blocks for the match in that frame.
Head coach Paula Weishoff went to the bench in game three and inserted several of her freshmen to get them some much-needed game experience. After splitting the first 20 points, the Eagles ran off four-straight after a kill by Allie Macy and three errors by the Hawks.
The teams again went into see-saw mode up through a 27-23 lead for the Eagles before the Hawks made a last-ditch charge. Tessa Witt fired her only kill of the match, then the Eagles made consecutive errors to see the lead drop to one. Following a timeout, the Hawks kept up the pressure as Paige Vandenbroeke hammered one of her match-best 14 kills, then Brianne Stidham tallied an ace for a 28-27 lead.
Another timeout saw Weishoff re-insert several of her starters to prevent a fourth game from being necessary and the move paid off. Jamie Friedrich had one of her five kills in the game, then Scheele scorched another kill to give the Eagles match point.
There was more drama to come as the Hawks scored the next two points to give themselves a chance at extending the evening. An error by the Eagles was followed by another kill by Vandenbroeke to make it 30-29 for the visitors.
However, Rachel Blair was long with the ensuing serve to level the teams for the final time. Amber Ridens took care of the final two points with the last of her seven kills to end the threat.
Scheele did not make an error in 20 attempts to hit a sizzling .550 overall. Ashley Robbins converted 6-of-8 attempts to hit .750 while Ridens was 7-of-10 with her swings for a mark of .700. Friedrich finished with 8 kills while sister Jenna had 21 assists and six digs.
Meggan Chapin added six kills and 10 digs for San Diego Christian (4-6, 0-1 GSAC) while Stidham had a match-best 11 digs.
Concordia (9-0, 1-0 GSAC) visits #6-ranked Point Loma Nazarene this Saturday in the first of three-straight top 10 clashes over the next 10 days with the match starting in Golden Gymnasium at 3:00 p.m.