MIAC Quarterfinal Preview: St. Mary's at Concordia

Last Time The Teams Met:
Concordia and St. Mary's squared off in the MIAC regular season at the end of September in Winona. In that match the Cobbers rallied from a 2-1 deficit at St. Mary's to post a 3-2 win over the Cardinals. 

Things didn't look good for Concordia in the fourth set of their second match on the annual MIAC road trip. The Cobbers trailed 2-1 and were eight points away from falling for the first time in conference play. That's when the CC offense took over as they won 14 of the next 17 points and seized control of the match.

The Cobbers were outscored 11-4 at the end of the first set and lost 25-18. Concordia then jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set and won 25-20. Unfortunately CC would stumble at the end of the third set and lost 25-21.

That would set the stage for Concordia's fourth set rally and then the win in the fifth set. With the fourth set tied at 17-17, Concordia rattled off four straight points and finished off the set with a kill from Angie Waller and an attack error from SMU. The Cobbers carried over the momentum into the fifth set as they bolted to a 6-0 lead, allowed St. Mary's to get to within three points at 12-9 and then closed out the match with three straight points on an attack error, a service ace from Alyssa Schmidt and a kill from Kynndyl Ross.

Concordia had three players finish in double digits in kills. Ross had a team-high 14 winners while Kayla Hampton and Waller had 10 each. Hampton hit a team-best .333 and also had five blocks. Schmidt came away with 25 digs while Jena Klaphake had 26 assists. Junior Kelly Reed had a season-high seven blocks in the match.

Concordia vs. St. Mary's Regular-Season Match Recap

Stat Central:
- 2013 Concordia Statistics

- 2013 St. Mary's Statistics

- 2013 MIAC Statistics

- 2013 Concordia NCAA Team/Individual Rankings

- 2013 St. Mary's NCAA Team/Individual Rankings

Cobber Match Notes:
- Welcome to Tourney Time! Tonights’s match begins the second season where one loss can send the team to the library while a string of wins can make the team legendary. The Cobbers are playing in their 13^th consecutive. Concordia is one of three teams to qualify for the MIAC playoffs in every season since the league went to a single-elimination tournament in 2001.
- The Cobbers are 13-9 in MIAC tournament games. That includes an 11-2 record at home. CC has won four straight home playoff matches. The down side of the home record is that both losses in Memorial Auditorium have come in the quarterfinals. Concordia is 5-3 all time in conference quarterfinal matches. 
- The Cobbers enter the league playoffs as the No.4 seed with a 9-2 conference mark. They tied with St. Ben’s for third place but earned the No.4 seed because of the loss at CSB. It’s the first time in the history of the single elimination tournament that a team with a 9-2 regular-season record has been at the No.4 seed. 
- St. Mary’s heads into the MIAC Tournament as the No.5 seed with a 6-5 league mark. They are 2-2 in their last four matches and are coming off a 3-0 loss against St. Thomas. 
- Concordia has played the Cardinals only one other time in the MIAC playoffs. That came in the inaugural year of the single elimination format and SMU came away with a 3-0 win.
- Kynndyl Ross leads the team in kills this season. She enters the postseason with 311 winners which is the most of her career. Ross was seventh in the MIAC in kills during the regular season. Teammates Angie Waller and Alyssa Schmidt were 10^th and 11^th in digs. Waller finished the MIAC season with 165 digs while Schmidt was right behind with 164  
- The Cobbers have a chance to record their third 20-win season in the last five years. If CC earns a victory tonight that will earn the team the benchmark 20^th win of the year.
- Concordia completed conference play by being ranked second in the conference in digs (745), total blocks (85) and total attacks (1563). CC was also second in service aces (62) but last in service errors (34).

Cardinal Match Notes (courtesy of the SMU Sports Information Office):
The Cardinals are making their first MIAC playoff appearance since 2010 and their ninth post-season appearance under coach Mike Lester. … SMU's victory over Gustavus on Oct. 26 was its 23nd win of the season — the most wins in a season since 2000, when the Cardinals won 27 en route to their first-ever MIAC regular-season title and an NCAA Division III national tournament appearance. … The Cardinals have won 20 or more matches seven times under coach Lester. … SMU heads into post-season play with an 11-3 record over its last 14 matches. … The Cardinals head into Tuesday's tournament match at Concordia boasting a 15-3 record on the road this season. … Alex Peterson (Harmony, Minn.) was held to eight kills against defending national champion St. Thomas last Saturday, marking just the third time in SMU's 31 matches that the sophomore has been held under 10 kills in a match. … Peterson's eight-kill effort also snapped a streak of 18 straight matches with 10 of more kills. … Peterson has eclipsed 20 kills in a match twice this season — collecting 20 kills vs. St. Olaf on Oct. 23 and a career-high 23 kills against Central (Iowa) on Oct. 4. … Peterson's 23-kill match against Central (Iowa) on Oct. 4 was the most by a Cardinal this season and the most since Kara Grant recorded 26 kills against Clarke on Sept. 30, 2011. … Mary Nordick (Plymouth, Minn.) and Kenzie Lind (Rushford, Minn.) have also put together career-high kill performances this season. Nordick notched a career-best 19 kills against Wheaton (Ill.) on Oct. 12, while Lind has recorded a career-best 17 kills twice — against North Central on Oct. 12 and vs. Concordia on Sept. 28. … Peterson heads into Tuesday's tournament-opening against Concordia boasting a team-leading 385 kills, while Lind (261) and Nordick (232) have also recorded 200 or more kills this season. … Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill.) closed out the regular-season with a single-season career-high to 1,126 assists. … Assimos, who has posted 1,000 or more assists twice in her four-year collegiate career, currently ranks No. 2 all-time with 3,192 career assists. …SMU has recorded 151 aces this season — led by Thomas with 38 and Assimos with 35.

Cobbers vs. Cardinals Series History: Cobbers lead 30-12 (series started in 1981)

Series Synopsis: Concordia has won 13 of its last 14 matches against St. Mary's. The lone loss in that streak came last year when the Cardinals claimed a 3-2 in Moorhead...the teams have only played one time in the single elimination playoffs and that came back in 2001 when St. Mary's blanked the Cobbers 3-0...Concordia is 9-3 against the Cardinals in matches played in Moorhead...Cobber head coach Tim Mosser is 21-9 vs. St. Mary's in his career.