To Sweep And Be Swept In Regular Season Finales

MORRIS, Minn. (11/02/13)—Concordia swept UM-Morris 25-20, 25-14, 25-23 and was swept by Northwestern (Minn.) 25-22, 25-18, 25-16 in a pair of matches played at Morris as the Cobbers closed out the 2013 regular season on Saturday.

The Cobbers will now enter postseason play with a 19-10 overall mark and need one win to record their third 20-win season in the past five years.

Concordia trailed for only one point in their first two set wins against Morris. The Cobbers used an 8-4 run at the beginning of the opening set and then an 8-4 run at the end of the second set to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The third set was more of a back-and-forth affair. The Cougars led 12-7 at one point but then CC won five straight points to tie the set. Concordia finished off the win against Morris by claiming two of the final three points.

The Cobbers hit .190 against the Cougars but the CC defense was able to hold Morris to a .107 attack percentage. Morris did not hit better than .175 in any of the three sets.

Junior Kynndyl Ross paced Concordia with 12 kills. She was the only Cobber with more than eight winners in the match. Alyssa Schmidt had a match-high 16 digs while Mandy Mercil added a match-high 20 assists. Kelly Reed came away with four blocks in the match.

Concordia was unable to duplicate the defensive effort against Northwestern. CC held the Eagles to a .182 attack percentage in the first set but then Northwestern dialed up the offense and hit .395 and .367 for the final two sets. The Eagles had a .317 attack percentage for the three sets.

The match versus the Eagles was very similar to the final conference match against Augsburg where the Cobbers had a chance to win the first set, gave up a string of points in the opener to drop the set and then could never recover. The turning point in the first set, and possibly the match came after the score was tied 21-21 and Northwestern was forced to call a timeout. The Eagles then came out of the break and won four of the next five points.

The second set was swung in the middle of the contest when Northwestern used a 5-1 run to break open a two-point contest. Concordia never trailed in the third set as they fell for the third time in the past four matches.

Ross once again led the Concordia offensive attack. She finished with nine kills and had a match-high 28 total attack attempts. Angie Waller and Jena Klaphake both had eight digs. Klaphake also added a team-high 20 assists.

Concordia will now turn its attention to the MIAC playoffs. The Cobbers will begin postseason play on Tuesday, Nov.5 when they host St. Mary's at 7 p.m.