Second Straight Fast Start And Slow Finish

MOORHEAD, Minn. (10/06/23)---For the second straight match, Concordia won the opening set and then dropped three straight to lose 3-1.

On Tuesday, the Cobbers picked up the opening-set win over Mayville State and lost the next three. On Friday, Concordia claimed a 25-22 win in the first set at home against St. Catherine, but then the Wildcats roared back to win the next three – 25-13, 25-20 and 25-22.

The loss is the first in conference play for the Cobbers. They are now 3-1 in the MIAC and 11-7 in all matches. St. Catherine moves to 10-5 overall and a similar 3-1 in league play.

The match was determined in two spots on the court. St. Kate's held a 13-9 advantage in blocks as the SCU net players continually made it hard for the Cobber attackers to find open lanes for kills. The second key area was at the service line where the Wildcats had 10 service aces as compared to only two for Concordia.

The Cobbers held a 53-45 edge in kills and had a .183 hitting percentage as opposed to the .177 mark St. Kate's put up.

Sophomore Mallory Leitner led all players with 14 kills. She hit .178 for the match and posted 15.5 points. Madison Kisch and Hannah Keil were the other two CC players with double-digit kill totals. Kisch had 10 winners to go along with four blocks. She also hit a team-best .381. Keil also had 10 kills. She hit .226 and added 13 digs.

Kaia Lill recorded 44 assists to push her season total over the 700 mark. She now has 705 helpers, which is the second-most in the MIAC.

Chloe Markovic had a team-high 18 digs, while Karlie Goschen posted 11 digs and came away with a rare kill.

UP NEXT: Concordia will try and rebound when they play at St. Scholastica on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 5 p.m.