Careening Down The Track In Arden Hills

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. (9/27/14)— The up-and-down rollercoaster ride for Concordia in the 2014 season went over the top of a climb and fell straight down against Bethel on Saturday. Three days after sweeping MIAC-leading Hamline, the Cobbers were swept by Bethel 25-10, 25-19, 25-23.

The loss pushes Concordia under the .500 level for both their overall and conference records. CC is now 7-8 in all matches and 1-2 in the MIAC. Bethel improves to 12-5 in all matches and 2-1 in league play.

The Cobbers were run over before they had the chance to get comfortable in Arden Hills. The Royals rattled off the first four points of the match, raced out to an 11-4 lead and never looked back.

Concordia tried to return the favor in the second set going out to a 4-0 lead of their own but an 11-4 run rained on the sunny start.  CC got to within four at 20-16, 21-17 and 23-19 but was never able to get closer.

The third set came down to the final eight points. The teams were tied at 21-21 before Bethel won the next two and then held off a late CC rally.

Bethel had nine more kills in the three-set match (41-32) and hit .309 as compared to only .144 for Concordia. The Royals were also able to consistently score points when the Cobbers were serving. They completed 72% of their side-out chances in the first set and 78% in the second set.

The Cobbers did not have a player with more than six kills in the match. Olivia Wangensteen and Heather Beaner both had six winners for the afternoon. Alyssa Schmidt and Korbyn Ross both had a team-high eight  kills while Mandy Mercil paced the offense with 15 assists.  

Concordia will look to get back on the upward swing of the track when they host Valley City State in the final non-conference match of the season.