Cobbers Fall In MIAC Quarterfinal

NORTHFIELD, MInn. (11/06/23)---Concordia was never able to overtake St. Olaf in the decisive third and fourth sets in their MIAC quarterfinal match in Northfield and lost 3-1 (25-20, 26-28, 25-17, 25-16).

The Cobbers split the opening sets with the Oles, and the third set was tied at 15-15, but then St. Olaf won 10 of the next points to take the 25-17 victory. The fourth set was very similar, with CC getting to within two points at 16-14 after trailing 16-10, but then the Oles closed out the match on a 9-2 run.

Concordia ends the year with a 15-14 overall record. It's the most overall wins by a Cobber team since 2015.

The Cobbers' top moment in the match came in the second set after they trailed early and fought back from a 20-14 deficit to tie the score at 22-22. CC then staved off three match points before getting a kill from Madison Kisch, an attack error from the Oles and then a set-clinching winner from Kaia Lill.

Concordia hit .161 for the match, the second set was the high point with a .267 mark. St. Olaf hit a match-best .353 in the fourth set and finished the match with a .238 attack percentage.

Sophomore Mallory Leitner had a team-high 12 kills and hit .250, while Hannah Keil added nine winners, and Maria Watt added seven with a .294 attack percentage.

Kisch led all players with seven blocks. She also had six kills and hit .294.

Lill had 29 assists in the season's final match and finished the year with 1,061 assists. That total ranks seventh on the school's all-time single-season assist list.

Chloe Markovic was one of four Cobber players with a double-digit dig total. She had a team-high 14 digs. Hanna Mooney (13), Lill (11) and Karlie Goschen were the other three with at least 10 digs in the match.

The 14 digs give Markovic 453 for the season, which is a career high. She finished her four years with 1,394 digs, the second-most in Cobber history.