Not Meant To Be In Season Finale

MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/01/14)—It just wasn't meant to be for Concordia as they dropped three straight sets to No.23-ranked St. Benedict and watched their playoff dreams go cold in the early-November chill.

The Cobbers won the first set 25-19 but then lost 25-20, 25-19, 25-19 to have their season come to an end.  Concordia finishes the year with a 12-12 overall mark and a 5-6 record in conference play. CC wound up tied for sixth place in the MIAC standings with Gustavus but a loss to the Gusties last weekend kept Concordia out of the postseason. The Blazers win their sixth straight match and end the regular season with a 9-2 record in conference play and a 20-8 mark in all matches.

The Cobbers put together one of their best sets in recent play in the opener. CC used an 8-3 run midway through the set and hit .400 to grab a 1-0 lead in the match. Unfortunately that would be the high-water mark of the match and CSB would respond by winning three straight.

Concordia wouldn't hit better than .150 in the final three sets while St. Benedict hot over .215 the rest of the way. The Blazers held a 45-35 edge in kills in the final three sets as well.

The Cobbers wound up hitting .150 for the match as compared to .242 for the Blazers.

Concordia vs. St. Benedict Video Highlights

Olivia Wangensteen and Kynndyl Ross led the Cobber front line players. The pair combined to have 27 of the team's 50 kills. Wangensteen had a match-high 16 winners, hit .132 and had a team-high two blocks.  Ross had 11 kills, only three errors and hit .235. Anna Skow-Anderson had her highest kill total in five matches. She came away with seven winners and hit .286. Kelly Reed had five kills in 21 chances in her last match in maroon and gold. She finished the year with a team-high 170 kills.  

Mandy Mercil had 28 assists to pace the CC offense. Korbyn Ross had a team-high 21 digs while senior Alyssa Schmidt was one behind at 20. It was the 12th time in 2014 that she has had 20 or more digs in a single match.