CCU Volleyball traveled to Bartlesville, OK to compete in the NCCAA Central Regional Tournament on Wednesday morning.
 
Their first match was against Mid-America Christian University early Thursday morning at 8 AM MST, and then another match was set for noon against Central Christian College. Day one and two consist of pool play, and CCU is already off to a great start to taking the #1 seed in Pool B.
 
The Cougars defeated MACU in three sets with scores of 25-18, 25-19, 25-14, and did the same with CCC in four sets 25-14, 22-25, 25-12, and 25-16. This first day of play was controlled by the blue and gold offense with an aggressive lineup in both games.
 
In their first game against Mid-America, CCU had 41 kills, 30 digs, and 20 blocks. Five out of the six CCU offensive players hit over a .370 in this match and the passing was almost flawless with one error.  The Cougar block was extremely strong at the net have 10.0 avg. total team blocks, which prevented the Evangels from getting many points.
 
The next match was against Central Christian College and was a lot different looking on the stat sheet than Colo. Christian's first match. CCU had 52 kills, 90 digs, and 20 blocks. The team hit a .232 and had 11.0 avg. team blocks. Even though the CCC tigers had 167 total attacks at the net (compared to CCU's 155), they made twice as many errors and had 17 less kills which gave them a hitting percentage of .024 for the match.
 
Coach Andria Harshman was very excited about how the team played on the first day and stated, "We are excited to participate in NCCAA and we are glad with the way we came out strong today. We set the tone with our serving and then got contributions from all of our hitters throughout the day. We look forward to strong competition and a chance to keep advancing."
 
Many Cougars played well on this day including both right side hitters Kaylee Pierce who had 14 kills and Sophia Riviere with eight kills and zero errors. Starting outside hitter Mollie Bailey led the team in kills with 21 on 51 attempts and ended the day hitting a solid .275%. Right behind her was Sophia Proano with 17 kills on the outside, and Angela Jurek had 14 kills in the middle hitting a .324%.
 
Freshman middle blocker Hope Baldrica said "Overall, we are excited to get the wins today! I am proud of the team's work ethic and the way we played through adversity. Our mindset for tomorrow is to play with confidence and intensity." Baldrica had 12 kills with only one error at the net and eight blocks.
 
Christian's defense made it possible to run such an incredible offense. Freshman libero Joy Kurosawa had a combined total of 31 digs, and setter Kylee Wurster had 24 digs with 68 assists at the net.
 
The Cougars will continue to fight for the regional championship on Nov. 20^th with their first game starting at 12 PM MST vs Oklahoma Wesleyan University. The semi-finals will be played on the night of Nov. 20^th at either 6:30 or 8:30 depending on how the pool play ends. (see below)
 
SCHEDULE: (Central Time)
Friday – Pool B                                          Friday – Pool A
9 AM – OKWU v CCC                                9 AM – McMurry v SWCU/CRC  
11 AM – MACU v CCC                              11 AM – SAGU v SWCU/CRC  
1 PM – CCU v OKWU                                1 PM – OBU v McMurry
 
6:30 PM – Pool B #1 v Pool A #2
8:30 PM – Pool A #1 v Pool B #2