Cobber sophomore Brianna Carney goes up for one of her 11 match-high kills in the MIAC opener against St. Thomas.
Cobber sophomore Brianna Carney goes up for one of her 11 match-high kills in the MIAC opener against St. Thomas.

A Third Set To Build On

MOORHEAD, Minn. (9/13/17)--- Concordia pulled off a 25-23 third-set win against No.23-ranked St. Thomas but was unable to dig out of a 2-0 hole and lost 3-1 (25-16, 25-12, 23-25, 25-17) in the conference opener for both teams.

The Cobbers fall for the third straight match and are now 1-4 on the year. The Tommies win for the eighth straight time and are now 8-1. The set win marks only the second time in the last eight matches that the Tommies have dropped a set.  

The match was the first in a week for the Cobbers and they showed their early-season jitters as they fell behind 6-1 in the opening set. The Tommies pushed the margin to 10 points at 21-11 and then won by nine in the first set.

The second set was more of the same with UST pulling away at 15-5 and then upped the lead to 20-6 before completing the 13-point win.

Concordia found its confidence in the third set when they rattled off eight straight points to turn a 5-3 deficit into an 11-5 lead. The Cobbers would allow UST to get to within two points on four different occasions late in the match but went ahead 24-22 and then closed out the set on a kill by Emily Friedrich when they were clinging to a one-point lead at 24-23.

The Cobbers entertained ideas of evening the match at 2-2 but a nine-point run by the Tommies after the score was tied at 10-10 turned a close set into a 19-10 margin.

Concordia had three players with double-digit kill totals. Emily Friedrich and Haley Cuppett each had 10 winners while Brianna Carney came away with a match-high 11 kills.

Senior Stephanie Baker had 10 digs and Jill Klaphake led CC with 19 assists.

CONCORDIA vs. ST. THOMAS HIGHLIGHTS


WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will head to Wisconsin to compete in the Wis.-Eau Claire Invite over the weekend.  The Cobbers will play St. Scholastica and Univ. of Chicago on Friday, Sept. 15 and then square off against host Eau Claire and Lakeland on Saturday, Sept. 16.