The Lady Cards begin their 2011 Campaign

The Lady Cards begin their 2011 Campaign
(Ann Arbor, MI) - The Lady Cards started off their 2011 season this past weekend with the annual Concordia Kick-off Classic. Five other teams competed in the tournament including Rochester College, Ohio State-Marion, Lawrence Technological University, Mount Vernon Nazarene College, and Marygrove College. Your Lady Cards played four of those teams, starting with Ohio State-Marion. Concordia won all 3 sets (25-12, 25-6, 25-7) to start the tournament off on a positive note. Leading the attack was senior Ashley Hart with 13 kills. Sophomore Adrienne Kanitz also had a great match with 29 assists and a kill of her own. On the defensive side, junior Shannon Pietruszka led the team with 12 digs.

For their second match, the Lady Cards faced a tougher opponent in Rochester College. It was a close match with the greatest margin of victory being only 6 points. Concordia lost the first two sets 21-25 and 20-25, but came back to win the third 25-19 to send the match into a fourth set. Yet it wasn't enough as the Warriors prevailed in the final set 25-22. Ashley Maynard led the attack with 10 kills.

On Saturday, the Lady Cards faced off against Mount Vernon Nazarene for their third match of the tournament. Danielle Guss was solid on both sides of the match with 11 kills and 12 digs. But the Cardinals couldn't seem to finish a set, falling short in all three (25-18, 25-19, 25-18).

The Lady Cards looked to finish the tournament off strong in their final match against Lawrence Technological University and they did so, taking all three sets 25-22, 25-13, 25-19. Danielle Guss had a tournament-high 15 kills, with Ashley Hart and Brittany Schmalzel chipping in as well. Ashley Hart and Danielle Guss each had 16 points (kills + aces + blocks), and sophomore Adrienne Kanitz had 31 assists to help the Cards earn the 'W' and an overall tournament record of 2-2.

Cardinals Danielle Guss and Ashley Hart were named to the All-Tournament Team along with Katelyn Cosio (Rochester), Megan Gohl (Marygrove), Gina Porto (Mount Vernon), Kendra Votow (Mount Vernon), and Kelsey Haener (Lawrence Tech). Ashley Hart took home the Tournament MVP award with a total of 45 kills for a .453 percentage.
Danielle Guss & Ashley Hart
The Lady Cards will play in an exhibition alumni game next Saturday, August 27 in the CUAA gymnasium. After that, they will travel to Chicago to play in the Concordia Invitational Tournament on September 3rd. Good luck ladies!
Edited and written by.. Zach Johnston and Nick Lyscas
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