(October 7, 2008 - Ann Arbor, Mich.) -- The Concordia women's volleyball team showed their heart in more ways than one Tuesday evening at home against the University of Michigan-Dearborn. The players for both teams raised awareness of breast cancer research as they participated in a Dig Pink match, as Concordia wore pink jerseys and Dearborn had pink numbers on their blue jerseys as the squads participated in the national movement. Concordia, in addition to their compassion toward an important cause, showed that a long-losing streak and close-knit match were not too much to overcome as they prevailed in five sets 3-2 (25-20, 23-25, 25-22, 23-25, 17-15).

Concordia entered the match riding two unfortunate losing streaks: a 12-game season-long stretch turning a 12-4 record into a sub-.500 mark and a 13-game streak of losses to the visiting Wolves of UM-Dearborn.

Shawna Dorton (Sr. - Lincoln Park, Mich.) and Ashley Hart (Fr. - Birmingham, Mich.) came out swinging in the first set as the duo each had three kills as the Cardinals prevailed 25-20. Ashley Zair (Jr. - West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Rachel Compton (Jr. - Ann Arbor, Mich.) shared the setting duties as the duo had five and six assists, respectively, in the first set.

With the score 10-6 in the favor of Concordia, the Cards broke serve and subsequently added another five points to put some distance between the two teams at 16-6. The Wolves pulled within three at 19-16, before the two teams exchanged points the rest of the way.

The second set was much more to the liking of UMD as Courtney Provencher had fived kills and Candace McPherson added four in the Wolves 25-23 victory to even the match.

Concordia jumped out to an 8-3 lead, but the Wolves nibbled their way back before taking the leadat 17-16. The Cards would regain the lead with a four-point, but Dearborn was able to withstand the run and regain momentum to pick up the two-point win.

Concordia regained the match lead with it's 25-22 victory in the third set. The Cards extended a 5-3 with a five-point run off the service of Kara Youngs (Fr. - Belding, Mich.). Dearborn would continue to chip at the lead, culminating in a five-point stretch themselves to knot the game at 15-15. Strong serving from Shilo Stewart (Jr. - Brighton, Mich.) gave the Cards a three-point lead at 19-16 and a four-point stretch a few moments later gave Concordia game-point at 24-19. The Cardinals held off a late rally and won the third set behind four kills from Dorton and Danielle Guss (Fr. - Lambertville, Mich.).

Apparently, even numbered sets were the bane of the Cards as they fell by the same 25-23 score they did in the second. Fortunately, they played an odd number of sets to decide the match.

A key six-point run midway for the Wolves turned a two-point deficit into a 14-10 lead in the fourth set. Concordia tied the set at 15-15, and would eventually stretch that lead to three at 21-18, but a five-point swing in the favor of UMD gave the Wolves a 23-21 lead. The two teams would exchange points the rest of the way as Concordia could not close out the game and Dearborn forced a fifth and deciding set. An odd-numbered set, thankfully.

After getting out to a 3-1 lead early in the fifth, the Cards could never really shake the Wolves with the largest lead of the entire set being a three-point cushion Concordia enjoyed from the midway point to the later stages of the set, ending with a four-point stretch by Dearborn to give the Wolves a 13-12 lead. Concordia would pick up two points to get to match-point at 14-13, but the teams continued to battled and force the crowd to wait on the edge of their seats for every point. A two-point run by the Cards gave them the much-earned 17-15 win in the set and a 3-2 victory in the match.

Dorton would finish with 13 kills while Youngs added nine and Erica Manning (Sr. - St. Johns, Mich.) contributed eight. Compton ended her evening with 23 assists while Zair had 21. Defensively, Stewart's 17 digs lead the Cardinals with Guss and Youngs producing 16 and 11, respectively.

Concordia (13-16, 1-5 WHAC) is glad to rid themselves of their streaks as they look forward to a Thursday evening matchup against Aquinas College in Grand Rapids. Game time is 7:00 p.m.