Momentum Doesn't Travel South

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. (11/1/12)—Concordia was unable to carry over its momentum from the impressive showing in the MIAC quarterfinals on Tuesday and lost 25-22, 25-18, 25-21 to No.2-seeded St. Ben's in the semifinals on Thursday.

The Cobbers will now have to play the waiting game. With the loss, CC falls to 13-11 and will have to wait until Monday, Nov. 5 to see if they earn an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Blazers win for the 15^th straight time, improve to 27-4 and advance to the MIAC Championship match where they will play at St. Thomas on Saturday, Nov. 3.        

The Cobbers, who swept regionally-ranked Bethel in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, had their best chance for a set win in the opener as they rallied from a 20-14 deficit and got to within two at 23-21. The teams then traded points until the Blazers won the set with a kill from Sophie Stangl.  

Concordia gave up a 11-1 run midway through the second set that turned an 9-7 contest into a 20-8 struggle. St. Ben's was able to carry that momentum into the third set as they built a 6-2 lead. The Cobbers had one last push and got to within two at 10-8 but three straight points by CSB pushed the lead to 13-8 and CC was never able to get closer than three for the rest of the final set.

The Cobbers hit .100 for the match and are now 1-5 in their last six matches when they hit under .200. CC was held to a .199 attack percentage when the two teams met on Saturday. St. Ben's finished the night with a .209 attack percentage and held a 48-29 advantage in kills.

Freshman All-Conference front line player Olivia Wangesteen was the only Concordia player with more than five kills in the match. She had 10 kills and hit .105. Both Rachel Wiinanen and Angie Waller came away with a team-high 13 digs and Shelby Bommersbach and Danelle Loomis had 12 assists each.