Reed Leads Revival At Bethel

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. (9/06/14)—One week after struggling to find wins at the first tournament of the year, Concordia righted the ship and won three straight matches to finish off the Bethel Invitational. The Cobbers have now won four of their last five matches and are 4-4 after digging an 0-3 hole to start the year.

Concordia dropped the opening match of the weekend to unbeaten Nebraska Wesleyan but then came back to post a trio of 3-1 wins over Luther, Buena Vista and Principia. All four of CC's wins this year have come by identical 3-1 margins.

The strength of Concordia at the Bethel Invitational came from the depth of their offensive attack. The Cobbers had five players record over 25 kills for the four-match weekend. All told CC hit .155 for the tournament and had 182 winners.

Freshman Vanessa Johnson led all Concordia players with 39 kills. She hit .174 for the four matches and added 27 digs. Johnson now leads the team in kills for the season. She has 77 winners in the team's eight matches.  Johnson had double-digit kill total in two of the four matches at Bethel. Junior Heather Beaner had 37 kills and recorded five total blocks while senior Kynndyl Ross came away with 35 kills and 16 digs. Beaner recorded a career-high 13 kills in the win over Luther. Anna Skow-Anderson 27 winners and came up with a season-high 11 kills in the final match against Principia. .

The fifth member of the 25-plus kill club was the biggest stat filler for the weekend for Concordia. Senior Kelly Reed posted a team-high .299 attack percentage for the four matches. She had 27 kills and a team-high 11 blocks. Reed put up four service aces for good measure as she was the lone Cobber player to be named to the All-Tournament Team.

Mandy Mercil and Jena Klaphake ran the show on offense for Concordia. The pair combined for 152 assists and had a hand in 454 of the team's 582 total attacks. Mercil had 77 assists to go along with a team-high seven service aces. She had at least 20 helpers in the final three matches of the weekend. Klaphake was close behind with 75 assists and six service winners. She had a career-high 26 assists in the win over Principia.

Senior Alyssa Schmidt did all the work on the defensive side of the court for the Cobbers. She had a team-high 80 digs and had at least 20 digs in three of the four matches.  

Concordia will have a 12-day break before opening MIAC season when they play at Augsburg on Thursday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. The Auggies were picked to finish second in the conference in the annual preseason coaches' poll.