Undisputed Queens of the MIAC
MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/05/11)—Concordia left no doubt who the best team in the MIAC in 2011 was as they beat St. Thomas 3-2 (24-26,25-18,22-25,25-22,15-8) in the MIAC Tournament Championship match. It is the second time this season that the Cobbers have beaten the Tommies – the teams that tied for the MIAC regular season championship.
With the win, the Cobbers earn the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. It is the eighth time in the last nine seasons that Concordia will be appearing in the NCAA Tournament. The conference playoff title is the fourth in program history. Concordia also won the championships in 2003, 2004 and 2006.
The Cobbers have now won 13 straight matches as they enter the NCAA Tournament. CC also continued their home-court win streak. Concordia has won 19 straight matches at home in a streak that dates back to the end of the 2009 season. The win over the No.12-ranked Tommies marks the fifth time this season that the Cobbers have beaten a team ranked in the top 20 of the nation.
St. Thomas has their 16-match win streak come to end as they lose in the MIAC tournament championship match for the second straight season. The Tommies, who are almost assured on an at-large berth into the national playoffs, are now 29-5 on the season.
The start of the match was far from ideal for the Cobbers as they struggled to stop the St. Thomas frontline and had trouble making consistent passes on offense. That combination led to UST taking the first set 26-24. The set was tied at 24-24 before the Tommies got a pair of kills and recorded the first-set win.
Concordia won the second set when they went on a 6-1 run after St. Thomas had rallied to cut the lead to 17-16. CC went on to win 25-18 to even the match at 1-1. The Tommies seized the third set with a 7-4 streak after they were up 14-13. UST was able to keep CC from getting to within two points and closed out the set by winning three of the last five points.
It looked like the Cobbers would lose at home for the first time in over two years when St. Thomas bolted to a 4-0 lead in the fourth set. The match completely changed after Concordia head coach Tim Mosser took a timeout. CC came out after the break and won five straight points to take a 5-4 lead. From there they were able to slowly pull away from the Tommies and take a 15-11 lead. UST rallied and got to within one point on five different occasions before a pair of UST attack errors gave Concordia the 25-22 win.
Concordia then won the match in the first nine points of the fifth-set tiebreaker. The Cobbers raced to a 7-2 lead and then traded points to record a 15-8 win and capture the conference tournament title.
The difference in the match came in the fifth set where Concordia hit .304 and held St. Thomas to a .074 attack percentage. CC also hit over .300 in the second set. St. Thomas had an attack percentage of over .200 in their two set wins but less than .120 in their three losses. The Cobbers had a .215 attack percentage for the entire match as compared to .171 for the Tommies. Both teams had over 100 digs in the match. UST had 70 kills while CC finished with 68.
The two frontline stars for Concordia stepped into the spotlight when they were needed the most. Jenna Green and Katie Vohnoutka awoke in the fourth set and carried CC to the win. Green finished with a 20-20 as she came away with a match-high 20 kills and also had 22 digs. She now has 393 kills on the year and 416 digs and needs only seven more kills to become the first player in school history to record 400 kills and 400 digs in a single season. Vohnoutka came up with clutch points in the middle and had 17 kills and 11 digs to pick up her fifth double-double of the season.
Green and Vohnoutka closed out their MIAC careers by being named to the MIAC All-Tournament Team. It is the third tournament this season where both players received All-Tournament honors.
Cobber senior setter Amy Sykora had a career assist night. Sykora saved her best for last as she put up only the second 50-plus assist match of her career. She finished with a career-best 52 assists.
Concordia also received huge contributions from a pair of other frontline players. Senior Ashley Beseman lived up to her nickname "Big Point" Beseman by getting nine kills, three blocks and finished with a team-high .304 attack percentage. Alison Bruggeman followed Beseman's lead when CC needed clutch points as she recorded 12 huge kills and added 16 digs to come up with her second double-double of the year. Defensive specialist Rachel Wiinanen also saved the team by coming up with several point-saving digs. Wiinanen had 20 digs on the night and has now put up at least 20 digs in two of the last three matches.
St. Thomas had four players with double-digit kill totals and was led by Jill Greenfield who had 18 kills and 15 digs. Ashley Maher came away with 55 assists and Kaitalin Walker added 34 digs. Both Maher and Walker were named to the MIAC All-Tournament Team.
Concordia will now have to wait until Monday to see where and when they will play in the NCAA Tournament. The Cobbers, who will be one of the top seeds in the Central Region, should be in line to host the regional for the first time in program history.