Cobbers Storm Back To Beat St. Catherine 3-2

ST. PAUL, Minn. (9/30/22)---Concordia stormed back from a 2-1 deficit and beat St. Catherine 3-2 (25-17, 22-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-8).

The Cobbers won 13 of the last 18 points in the fourth set to even the match at 2-2, and then grabbed eight of the fist 10 points in the fifth set to take control of the match. The victory is the second straight for Concordia who earns their fist conference win of the year.

Concordia is now 4-11 overall and 1-2 in the MIAC, while the Wildcats lose for only the third time in the last eight matches and falls to 10-5 in all matches and 1-1 in league play.

The Cobbers took the opening set by hitting .138 and holding the Wildcats to a .051 mark. CC gave up four of the first five points in the set, but then tied the set at 6-6 and never trailed after that point.

St. Catherine responded by hitting over .200 in the second and third sets to take a 2-1 lead. Concordia trailed 6-4, 11-8 and 13-12 in the fourth set before CC found their stride, went on the deciding 13-5 run and won 25-18.

Concordia opened the fifth set with a 4-0 lead, stretched it to 8-2 and never let SCU get within six points to win the set 15-8 and take the match 3-2.

The Cobbers hit .219 and had 57 kills for the match. St. Catherine hit .115 and had 51 winners. It's only the second time that CC has hit over .200 in a match, and fifth match they have posted over 55 winners.

Concordia had three players finish with double-digit kill totals. Senior Anna Brakke led the way with a season-high 16 kills as she hit .378. It is the second highest hitting percentage of the season for Brakke. She now has 141 winners for the season and 784 for her career.

Brook Carney and Hannah Keil were the other two CC players with at least 10 kills. Carney had 13 kills and hit .154, while Keil went for 10 winners and had a .233 attack percentage. Carney has now had at least 10 winners in four of the last six matches, and Keil has done the same in three of the last four contests.

Kaia Lill had 41 assists in the match, marking the fifth time this year she has reached the 40-helper plateau. She also added 12 digs to record her fifth double-double of the season.

Concordia had five players with at least 12 digs. Besides Brakke and Lill, Chloe Markovic had a team-high 20 digs, Karlie Goschen had 14 and freshman Hanna Mooney added 12.

UP NEXT: Concordia will have a week break before hosting St. Scholastica on Friday, Oct. 7 and Macalester on Sunday, Oct. 9 as part of the annual Homecoming weekend.