Susquehanna ends CUA's season in conference semifinals

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Cardinals saw their 2010 season come to a close on Saturday afternoon as CUA fell to Susquehanna 3-0 in the semifinals of the Landmark Conference Tournament, which took place on the campus of Juniata.  With the loss the Cardinals finish with a record of 20-14, their third 20-win season in the last four years.

Set scores on Saturday were 20-25, 21-25 and 25-27.

In game number one CUA ran off four straight points in the early going to take a 5-3 lead.  Susquehanna answered with three of the next four points though to tie things at six.

The teams continually went back-and-forth throughout the set with the score tied at 10, 11, 12 and 13.  With things tied at 18 Susquehanna scored two straight to go in front 20-18, but the Cardinals answered with a point to get within one, 20-19.  That was as close as CUA would get though as the Crusaders ran off five of the next six points to win the set 25-20.

Susquehanna took an early 4-2 lead in game number-two, and later extended to a 9-5 advantage.  CUA battled back to tie the score at 10, but three straight Crusader points gave Susquehanna a 13-10 lead.

The Crusaders were able to extend to a 16-11 lead only to see CUA once again battle back and make it an 18-17 game on a kill by Kelly Crimmins.  Susquehanna ran off two straight to take a 20-17 lead, and the Crusaders were eventually able to build a 24-21 cushion.  Marie Clair Liareus then ended the game with a kill to put CUA in a tough 2-0 hole.

In the third game CUA raced out to leads of 5-0 and 8-3, but Susquehanna slowly crept back into it and eventually tied things at 11.  The teams then traded points for the remainder of the game with neither able to open up more than a two-point advantage. 

With CUA trailing 24-22 Susquehanna committed an attack error to make it a 24-23 game.  The Cardinals then called timeout and following the stoppage Kristen Shoeffling fired an ace to tie things at 24.

Susquehanna scored next to take a 25-24 lead but Claudia Jean answered with a kill to again tie the score, this time at 25.  The Crusaders were able to score two straight though as they squeaked out a 27-25 win.

Jean finished with 15 kills and 17 digs for CUA, while Michaela Carroll handed out a team-high 30 assists.  Kristina Purcell and Katie Chefalas finished with nine and eight digs, respectively, while Chefalas and Crimmins added seven kills apiece.

For Susquehanna Lindsey Jankiewicz totaled 16 kills and Kelly O’Brien was the team-leader in digs with 16.