A Very Memorable 401!

ST. PAUL, Minn. (10/09/13)—Concordia coach Tim Mosser's 400^th career win was underplayed and overlooked but his 401^st victory turned out to be one of the most memorable in his career.

"No. 401 is a lot more memorable," said Mosser. "I am excited for our players and it gives the whole team a big boost of confidence."
 
The Cobbers bolted to a 2-0 lead against defending national champion St. Thomas and hung on to claim a 3-2 (25-23, 25-18, 16-25, 12-25, 15-13) win over the No.3-ranked Tommies. The Cobber victory ends St. Thomas' 34-match win streak at home. CC also put a stop to the Tommies' 20-match win streak against conference opponents and 18-match regular season win streak. UST had also won 33 of its last 34 sets heading into Wednesday's showdown.  The victory also keeps Concordia perfect in MIAC play this season. They are now 6-0 in the conference.   

Concordia (18-4/6-0 MIAC) came into the match-up with St. Thomas having lost three of its last four matches and playing without injured 2012 MIAC Rookie of the Year Olivia Wangensteen. The Cobbers were able to jump ahead early in the first set and that led to the early-match momentum. CC came out with a 7-2 lead and then used a 3-1 to keep the lead midway through the opening set.

The only time the Cobbers trailed in the first two sets came in the very first point of the second set. After losing the first point, Concordia 11 of the next 14 points to take a commanding 11-4 lead. CC was able to keep the margin at seven for the rest of the set and came away with the 25-18 win.

St. Thomas (18-2/5-1) responded like a team that are the defending national champions and used a 9-3 run to win the third set 25-16. The Cobbers actually led 4-1 and then 9-5 before the Tommies righted the ship and appeared ready to seize control of the match.

St. Thomas used the same formula to take the fourth set. After Concordia grabbed a 9-6 lead, UST tied the set at 11 and then won 10 straight points to record a 25-13 victory.

The fifth set went back and forth with no team holding more than a three point lead. UST went out to a 5-2 lead but then Concordia went on a 7-2 run to grab a 9-7 lead. The Cobbers never trailed from that point and were able to trade points down the stretch and win 15-13.

St. Thomas held the edge in every statistical category except the one on the scoreboard. UST had 13 more kills and 17 more points in the game and also had a 0.80 better attack percentage. The key to the match was that Concordia was better in three sets but not very good in two. The Cobbers hit .243 and .257 in the first and second sets and .318 in the decisive fifth set.

Concordia wound up having a .172 attack percentage for the match as compared to .252 for St. Thomas. Both teams had 163 total attack attempts.

Kayla Hampton continues to be a tour-de-force for Concordia in her senior season. She came away with a team-high 15 kills and a team-high .464 attack percentage. She has now posted a double-digit kill total in the last four matches and seven of the last eight. Hampton, who has hit better than .400 in three of the last four matches, was named to the All-Tournament Team at last weekend's Wartburg Classic.

Junior All-Conference right-side hitter Kynndyl Ross was the only other Cobber player with more than nine wiunners in the game. She finished with 11 kills and added four blocks. Kelly reed and Heather Beaner both had nine kills for the five sets. Reed also had a team-high five blocks.

Mandy Mercil and Jena Klaphake once again gave Concordia a 1-2 punch from the setter position. Mercil had 22 assists and Klaphake recorded 21 helpers. Both players have had at least 20 assists in five of the last eight matches. Mercil chipped in 13 digs in the match. Alyssa Schmidt was the team leader in digs. She came away with 17 digs. Senior Angie Waller posted 10 digs in the upset win.

Concordia will take Homecoming weekend off before returning to action on Monday, Oct. 14 when they play at Mayville State at 7 p.m.