Preview - #6 Concordia at #3 St. Thomas

MIAC QUARTERFINALS: #6 Concordia (9-17/5-6 MIAC) at #3 St. Thomas (21-7/9-2 MIAC) 

DATE: November 1, 2016
LOCATION: St. Paul, Minn. (Schoenecker Arena)
GAME TIME: 7 p.m.
TICKETS: $7 for adult and $3 for any student (5 years old and younger are free). There is no senior discount. MIAC Passes will be honored. No other passes are to be accepted.

Live Video: St. Thomas Live Video Feed


Live Stats: St. Thomas Internet GameDay

2016 MIAC Women's Volleyball Tournament - MIAC Tournament Website

Nov. 1 (Tuesday)
MIAC Quarterfinals
No.6 seed Concordia @ No.3 seed St. Thomas 7 p.m.
No.5 seed Bethel @ No.4 seed St. Mary's 7 p.m.

Nov. 3 (Thursday)
MIAC Semifinals
No.4/5 winner @ No.1 seed Augsburg 7 p.m.
No.3/6 winner @ No.2 seed Gustavus 7 p.m.

Nov. 5 (Saturday)
MIAC Championship
Lowest remaining seed @ Highest remaining seed 7 p.m.

MIAC Team Playoff Notes:
- Concordia is playing in their 15th MIAC tournament. The Cobbers have only missed out on one conference postseason since the league went to the single elimination format and that came in 2014. 
- Concordia hasn't won an MIAC playoff match since the 2012 season when they beat Bethel in the quarterfinals.
- The Cobbers are 13-11 in MIAC tournament matches. Unfortunately CC is only 2-8 on the road in conference playoff matches.
- The last time the Cobbers and Tommies met in the conference tournament was in 2011 when CC beat UST 3-2 in the championship match.  
- Concordia is 2-2 against St. Thomas in conference tournament matches but 0-2 on the road against the Tommies in the MIAC playoffs.
- Like Concordia, St. Thomas has only missed one MIAC tournament and that came last year. The Tommies are making their 15th conference tournament playoff appearance and have won the title on six occasions. 

Cobbers vs. St. Thomas Series History:

Series started: 1981

St. Thomas leads overall series: 32-18

Series Synopsis: The teams have split the last six matches in the series in a stretch that dates back to the 2011 MIAC title bout…the Cobbers' beat the Tommies in the 2011 regular season but before that St. Thomas had won the last five matches in the series and 10 of the last 13. The sweep by CC in last year's regular-season finale was only the fourth time that the Cobbers had prevailed 3-0. CC beat UST 3-0 in the MIAC semifinals in 2006...Cobber head coach Tim Mosser is 13-19 lifetime against St. Thomas. 

Earlier This Year: Concordia 0 at St. Thomas 3 

Concordia barely had enough time to break a sweat before they were back on the bus and headed home in the 2016 regular-season match at St. Thomas. The Cobbers lost 25-14, 25-17, 25-12 in a match that lasted only one hour.

St. Thomas wound up hitting .281 for the match including .421 in the first set when they seized control. Concordia hit .081 and never hit higher than .132 in any set. UST held a 42-30 edge in kills and a 76-63 advantage in digs. The Tommies also had four more blocks and six more service aces in the match.

Concordia was led by freshman Emma Chandler who had eight kills and senior Mandy Mercil who added seven. Mercil also put up a team-high 18 assists. Jena Klaphake had 25 assists.

St. Thomas was led by a pair of front line players. Whitney Lloyd had a match-high 14 kills and hit an astronomical .583 while Ellie Etzell had 11 winners and hit .333. Katherine Mallak posted 30 assists, Ellie Meyer had 24 digs and Grace Duffy had six blocks.  

Stat Central:

- 2016 Concordia Statistics

- 2016 St. Thomas Statistics

- 2016 MIAC Statistics

- 2016 Concordia NCAA Team/Individual Rankings

- 2016 St. Thomas NCAA Team/Individual Rankings

Dig, Set, Kill - 3 notes to make you a star while watching the match
1. Concordia is 3-7 on the road this year against teams playing at home. It's a good thing the match is not being played on a neutral court since the Cobbers are 1-8 in neutral court matches this year. The Cobbers were 2-4 on the road in conference games this season. The Tommies are only 3-2 at home this year and all those matches were against conference opponents. 

2. Concordia is 8-4 in matches when freshman Brianna Carney records a double-digit kill total. CC was 8-1 when Carney had at least 10 winners but have lost the last three (Eastern, Gustavus, Carleton). 
 
3. The 2016 season was a year of winning and losing streaks for the Cobbers. Concordia started the season by losing three straight. CC then won three straight which was followed by a five-match losing skid and that was followed by a three-match win stretch. The Cobbers have only traded wins and losses on four occasions.   

Scouting the Tommies: 
St. Thomas enters tonight's playoff match having won eight of its last nine matches. The lone loss in that stretch came against Wis.-River Falls at the Wis.-Eau Claire tournament. The Tommies have posted five straight sweeps including against the Cobbers last Wednesday and then vs. Macalester in the regular-season finale.     

St. Thomas is 11-0 in three-set matches. Opponents have fared better during four-set affairs. The Tommies have lost six of their seven matches in four sets. They are 6-6 in four-set matches and then 4-1 when thet match goes to five sets.

The Tommies led the MIAC in hitting percentage and blocks per set in the conference season. UST hit .220 in their 11 MIAC matches. St. Thomas was also eighth in Division III in blocks per set (2.43) and 12th in total team blocks (248.0).    

Whitney Lloyd led the MIAC in attack percentage and total blocks in all matches. She was also second in blocks per set.   

Cobber SID Pick To Click:
#6 Emily Friedrich, So., OH
Emily Friedrich can give the Cobbers a huge offensive advantage from the front line. When she is on she forces the defense to roll over and try to stop her on every offensive set. On Saturday, in the Cobbers' playoff-clinching sweep over CSB, Friedrich had 18 kills and hit .267. She also added 17 digs. When Friedrich has her hitting game Concordia is a formidable opponent. She had 21 and 19 kills when CC almost knocked off No.12-ranked Eastern and second-place Gustavus.