The 2006 Volleyball CIT has officially begun as the Cardinals take on Concordia-Wisconsin with a 9:00 a.m. start. The Cardinals are hoping to win their first ever championship, a year after falling in the title game to Concordia-Nebraska (who isn't here to defend the title.) Participating in the tournament this year is your Cardinals, Concordia-Chicago, Concordia-Wisconsin and the Purdue University-North Central.

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After a long day of collegiate volleyball action, the two teams that had yet to win in the 2006 CIT met in the day's finale. While it wasn't a thing of beauty for the Cards early, Concordia-Ann Arbor would eventually prevail as they dominated the Panthers of Purdue University-North Central in the final two games to win the match 3-1.

The high point for PNC was the first game when the fledgling team won their first ever game as a collegiate program 30-28. The game was a tight affair throughout as the largest lead was the Panther's five-point margin at 14-9.

Game two was not much different, as they two teams exchanged barbs back and forth with neither team being able to sustain their serve until PNC put together a string of points to expand a one-point lead to six at 13-7. It appeared that the Panthers were en route to a 2-0 lead in the match when they were poised with a 20-15 margin as freshman Ashley Zair stepped up to serve for the Cardinals. By the time she was finished, the Cards had wrestled the lead away at 21-20 and would stretch it to 25-23. PNC would mount a rally themselves and would tie the match at 29-29. With Zair serving again, the Cards finished the game off with the last two points to even the match at 1-1.

The third game began in much the same fashion as the two previous, as the Panthers established an early 5-2 lead. But two runs by the Cards - the first with Zair serving which picked up five consecutive points and the second with Eriz Walczak serving that picked up an additional six points - put Concordia-Ann Arbor in charge at 13-7. Nicole Williams would lead the Cards to another stretch that put the game firmly in Concordia's hands at 19-9. The Panthers would put up a valiant fight, but Concordia would take a 2-1 lead in the match with a 30-15 game three victory.

The Cards left little doubt who would prevail as they easily rolled in the fourth game. Concordia jumped out to a 9-4 lead, but with Erica Manning serving, the Cards put together their longest consecutive scoring stretch of the day, scoring 10 straight points to have an insurmountable 19-4 margin. The game was relegated to formalities the rest of the way as Concordia won 30-12 to win the game and the match at 3-1.

With the win, the Cardinals improve to 2-7 on the season and 1-2 in the CIT. Purdue-North Central dropped to 0-3 on the season and 0-3 in the tournament.

Concordia-Ann Arbor (advanced to the second game of the day against Concordia-Chicago at noon. The two will square off after Concordia-Wisconsin and the Panthers face each other at 10:00 a.m. The losers of each match will meet in the consolation game at 2:00 p.m. and the winners will battle for the CIT Championship at 4:00 p.m.

In a much-anticipated matchup between these conference rivals didn't fail to live up to the hype as the two squads gave it their all in an effort to secure a spot in the 10:00 a.m. game tomorrow morning.

In game one, Wisconsin was able to sustain more consistent offensive play as they were able to take a 30-20 win. Sophomore Katie Lane took the serve with the Falcons holding on to a 25-20 lead and the middle hitter was able to deliver the final five points for Wisconsin to give them the 1-0 edge.

Game two was eerily similar to the first stanza as Wisconsin once again was able to orchestrate more offense and retain serve much more often throughout the game. Sophomore Meg Kline was a key player for the Cougars, but several Falcons stepped up and guide Wisconsin to their second win. Junior Sarah Hausch was all over the floor and effective on the serve, while Katie Roessler and Sarah Scheuneman owned the net as the Falcons won 30-21.

With their backs to the wall, the Cougars composed themselves and put forth their best overall effort in the third game. Kari Herbst set the tone as she opened the game with the serve and the team came up strong jumping out to an early 5-0 lead. After the Falcons came back to tie the match, Chicago would mount another slight run to extend their lead to 12-6. The teams would basically exchanged points for most of the remainder of the game. With the score sitting in the balance at 26-22 in favor of Chicago, the Cougars ran off three consecutive points off the serve of Sarah Steinke. A point by the Falcons only delayed the inevitable as Chicago won game three 30-23.

The fourth game had all the emotion of a championship-type affair. As in the first two games, Wisconsin was more effective in the overall game and were able to put enough distance between themselves and the Cougars that while the score was far from a blowout, it seemed that it was only a matter of time before the Falcons would close it out. In the end, Wisconsin took the fourth game 30-21 to win the match.

Wisconsin moves into Saturday's play with a 3-0 record in the tournament and overall this season, while Chicago slips to 2-1 in both categories. The Falcons will play at 10:00 a.m. against the loser of the Concordia-Ann Arbor/Purdue University-North Central match in the day's finale. The Cougars will move on to play the noon game against the winner between CUAA/PNC.

While the Purdue University-North Central Panthers played a valiant game in their first match, coming right back to play a talented Cougar squad from Concordia-Chicago took its toll as the Panthers were little match falling in three sets 30-19, 30-10, 30-18.

After rattling off the first three points off the serve of libero Dana Barkas, the Panthers could only muster two more points off their serve the rest of the way in game one. The Panthers lead 9-5 before Chicago called a timeout, regrouped and stormed the castle outscoring Purdue 25-10 the rest of the way to take a 1-0 lead.

The second gamewas close in the early going with the Cougars leading 6-4 with senior Jessica Nahnsen stepping up to serve. When Nahnsen was done, the Cougars were leading 12-4. After surrendering a couple of points to the Panthers, freshman Alex Pinotti was deadly on the serve for Concordia-Chicago. The Cougars put the game away with the frosh serving, scoring 11 consecutive points in a row to lead 23-6. Concordia-Chicago then cruised the rest of the way en route to a 30-10 pasting of the Panthers.

The third game would be the final game of the match as Pinotti again came up big for the Cougars. When she stepped up to deliver her first serve of the game, the Cougars lead by only four points. When the freshman finished, Chicago had a decisive 19-7 lead as they would put down the Panthers 30-18.

Concordia-Chicago improved to 2-0 in the tournament and on the season, while Purdue-North Central dropped to 0-2 overall and in the CIT. The Cougars had little time to rest on their win as they would play the next match - pitting the tournament's two unbeaten teams for the chance to be ranked #1 entering Saturday's play.

Purdue University-North Central, for a team playing in the first ever match, looked throughout like a squad that had been playing together for quite some time. Despite being swept in the match in three games, the Panthers could have easily won two of the games.

In the first game, neither team mounted much of a scoring attack, but the Falcons of Concordia-Wisconsin were able to score when it needed it most late in the game to pull away with a 30-26 win.

The second was the least dramatic of the three, as the Falcons poured it on early and often scouring in frequent spurts while containing any Panther attack. After a 30-18 game two victory, Concordia-Wisconsin looked as if they would roll to a perfect record.

However, the Panthers were once again up to the challenge, although they would eventually fall short. In a game that was extremely tight, two individuals rose to the occassion for the Falcons with their serves: Annie Mosser and Sonja Bolstad. The duo combined for two rallies totalling eight points which swung the momentum into the Wisconsin favor for good as the Falcons would pull away with a 30-25 win to sweep the match.

With the victory, Concordia-Wisconsin stays undefeated overall and in the tournament at 2-0, while Purdue University-North Central falls to 0-1 in both. The Panthers will play Concordia-Chicago in the next match.

Fortunately for the Cardinals, you can only play six at a time because Concordia-Chicago has nearly three times the amount of players at their disposal as Concordia-Ann Arbor. Time would tell whether or not that depth would play a significant role.

After falling behind quickly 7-3, the Cards rallied back to a 9-8 deficit. The Cougars would again put some distance between the two teams as their height advantage began to pay dividends. Down 16-10, Cardinal coach Dan Kirchhoff called time to stem the flow. While the Cards tried to recover, they couldn't put together enough of a run to take the first game falling 30-22.

After a very even beginning, the Cougars put some room between themselves and Ann Arbor as their heavy hitters began to pelt away at the Cardinal defense that was playing on their heels. Chicago consistently delivered blow after blow, keeping Ann Arbor on the defensive and looking for a spark to turn the tide. Despite a valiant Cardinal effort, the Cougars were too strong and pulled away for a 30-15 win.

The Cardinals showed some true character after battling back from deficits several times throughout the match to tie the Cougars at 7-7 and 12-12. But Concordia-Chicago was simply true strong and deep and continued to pelt away at the Cardinals with strong front-line play. Despite doing all they could to stave off the inevitable, the Cardinals fell in the third game 30-18 to drop their second match of the CIT. The Cards return to action at 7:00 p.m. tonight against Purdue-North Central.

Concordia-Chicago sits at 1-0 on the season, while the Cardinals fall to 1-7 overall.

The first set of the day's first game was nip-and-tuck with the Cardinals eventually jumping out to a 24-18 lead. The Falcons of Concordia-Wisconsin fought their way back to win the first set 30-27 to take a 1-0 lead in the opening match.

The Cardinals jumped out to an 11-3 lead in the second game and appeared to be ready to cruise to a second set win to tie the match. The Falcons once again showed their grit and pulled within as few as two points, but the Cardinals returned the lead back to eight points at 24-16 and would hold on to a 30-24 win to tie the match at 1-1.

Concordia-Wisconsin took full advantage of a few Cardinal errors in the early going of the third game and had a 6-3 lead before a timeout by Dan Kirchhoff, Concordia-Ann Arbor's head coach. The Falcon lead would reach as much as seven points (13-6), before the Cardinals would mount a comeback to tie the match at 15-15. Concordia-Wisconsin looked as if they began to settle down as they pulled to a 23-18 lead, before the Cardinals fought their way back for a second time to tie the game at 23-23 when Falcon coach Joe Cawley called a timeout to rally his troops. The strategy paid immediate dvidends as Wisconsin scored the next two points to lead 25-23. But again, the Cards would not be held in check as they tied the score at 25-25 before Katie Roessler delivered a big kill to regain the lead. It was punch-for-punch the rest of the way with Concordia-Wisconsin eventually earning a 30-28 win to take the lead 2-1 in the match.

The Cardinals would refuse to relent as the fourth game started and the Cards took an early 7-2 lead. Concordia-Ann Arbor kept up the pressure and would extend their lead to 13-5 before Cawley called a T.O. to get the Falcons focused. The Cardinals would continue to pull away as their lead jumped to 19-8 before a mini-run by the Falcons to make it 20-12. That is until junior Nicole Williams delivered crushing kills on successive plays to all but drain the life out of Wisconsin as the Cardinals would force a fifth game after a 30-20 win.

The Falcons didn't allow the game-four letdown effect them mentally as they quickly ran out to a 7-1 lead in the deciding game before a service error gave Concordia-Ann Arbor some new life. But the damage had already been done, despite a late rally, and the Cardinals couldn't regain enough momentum to pull out a first-match victory falling in the fifth game 15-7.