Consistent Cobbers Stay Atop MIAC Standings

MOORHEAD, Minn. (10/22/13)—Concordia used a consistent offensive attack to sweep Macalester 25-11, 25-22, 25-19 and remain unbeaten in conference play. The Cobbers are now 9-0 with two matches left in the MIAC regular season.

"The key tonight was our consistency and the play of our middle hitters," summarized Concordia head coach Tim Mosser. "We hit the ball solidly all night and the way our middles were attacking set up our outside hitters."

Concordia (18-7) hit above .250 in all three sets against the Scots and finished with a .279 attack percentage over the three sets. The .279 hitting percentage is a season high for the Cobbers in conference play. CC had four players who hit above .350 for the match. Anna Skow-Anderson led the Cobbers as she hit .462 and had 12 total attacks. Fellow sophomore Olivia Wangensteen hit .500 but only had four total attacks. Kynndyl Ross came away with a .400 attack percentage in 20 attempts and Kelly Reed hit .385 and had a team-high 25 attacks.

The Cobbers never trailed in the opening set, jumping to a 5-1 lead and then opening the margin to 10 points at 14-4. Concordia was able to coast to the 14-point win in the first set. Macalester put the opening contest in the rear view mirror very quickly and won seven of the first nine points in the second set. The Scots enjoyed the five-point lead until 13-8 when CC started on the comeback trail. The Cobbers won seven straight points to take a 15-13 before the Scots called timeout. Concordia pushed the lead to three at 16-13 and then traded points with Macalester to earn the 25-22 victory. The teams stayed even in the third set with Macalester clinging to a one-point lead at 15-14.  That's when the CC front line put the match away by winning five of the next six points and 11 of the final 15 points. Six of the final 11 points came on kills by Cobber front line players.

Neither team had a single player with a double-digit kill total. Concordia senior Kayla Hampton finished the night with a match-high nine winners. Hampton also had five blocks in the match. Ross added eight kills and Reed and Heather Beaner chipped in seven kills. Angie Waller led a trio of players with at least 10 digs. The senior outside hitter finished with a match-high 16 digs. Alyssa Schmidt and setter Mandy Mercil ended the match with 10 digs. Mercil also came away with 19 assists.

The Cobbers will now set their sights on two of the top four teams in the MIAC. Concordia will play at fourth-place St. Ben's on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 3 p.m. and then return home to host Augsburg on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. The Auggies are currently tied with St. Thomas for second place in the league standings.

Concordia needs to win only one of the two matches to earn at least a share of their third MIAC regular-season championship.