A Rally Good Win In The Conference Opener

ST. PAUL, Minn. (9/22/23)---If every conference match is going to be like the first for the Cobbers, Concordia fans will need heart medication and extra-long fingernails.

Concordia rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the MIAC opener and posted a 3-2 (23-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-19, 15-12) victory over Macalester in St. Paul.

The win is the fifth in the last six matches for the Cobbers and ups their season record to 9-4. The Scots lose for the fourth time in the previous five matches and are now 5-7 on the year.

THE 411: The teams traded set wins in the opening four bouts, with the Scots edging the Cobbers by only two points in the first and third sets and CC taking multiple-point victories in the second and fourth bouts.

The key point of the match came in the fourth set after Concordia dropped the third set 25-23 – a set that featured tie scores at 21-21, 22-22 and 23-23. The fourth set opened with neither team getting more than a 1-point lead in the first eight points. The Cobbers seized control of the set and the match by rattling off 10 straight points to grab a 14-4 lead. Concordia would never trail in the match after their 10-point outburst. They started the decisive fifth set by claiming four of the first five points, which led to a 9-2 and eventually a 15-12 win.

THE NEXT LEVEL: The win for the Cobbers was the first in a conference opener since the 2019 season – head coach Faith Radermacher's very first season at CC – when they beat St. Catherine 3-2 at home. The win also marks the 14th in the last 15 meetings that Concordia has beaten Macalester.  

THE NUMBERS GAME: The teams were tied in kill totals (51-51), but that is where the similarity ends. Concordia hit .187 for the match with 39 fewer attack attempts (210-171). The Cobber defense stepped up in the fourth and fifth sets and ended the match with 14 more digs and five more blocks.

INDIVIDUALLY SPEAKING: Senior Brook Carney and junior Maria Watt were tied for the team lead in kills. Both players had 12 winners. Carney also added 10 digs, while Watt came through with four huge blocks. It's the first double-double of the season for Carney, and her dig total is a season high. Watt now has 20 blocks on the year, giving CC three players with at least 20 rejections on the year.

Kaia Lill had another (ho hum) 40-assist match. She dished out 44 dimes, which is the eighth time this year she has reached the 40-assist plateau. Lill has 481 assists this season and her assist/set average of 9.43 is second in the MIAC. Lill also recorded 11 digs which gives her five double-doubles for the season.

Chloe Markovic led a group of five Cobbers who put up double-digit dig totals. Markovic had a match-high 25 digs and has 207 for the year, which is in the Top 5 of the MIAC. Joining Markovic with at least 10 digs were Hannah Keil (19), Karlie Goschen (16), Lill (11) and Carney (10).         

UP NEXT: Concordia will continue to head south to complete their first of two back-to-back road match weekends. The Cobbers will travel to Winona to take on St. Mary's on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 2 p.m. CC will also face Central at St. Mary's on Saturday at 4 p.m.