OH Claire

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (9/17/16)--- Unfortunately for Concordia the momentum they gathered in St. Paul at the start of their five-match weekend didn't carry over the border to Wisconsin and they dropped all four matches at the Nike/Eastbay Fall Classic hosted by Wis.-Eau Claire.

Concordia started their three-day, 650-mile journey by beating Macalester in the conference opener on Thursday. They then headed east and got stuck in Oh Claire.

The start of both matches on Friday looked promising as the Cobbers carried that momentum from Thursday but couldn't finish out St. Norbert and Lakeland and ended up losing a pair of five-set matches. Saturday was a different story as Concordia was swept by a pair of experienced WIAC schools – Wis.-Stevens Point and host Eau Claire.

The 1-4 weekend leaves Concordia with a 3-7 overall record as they start to ramp up MIAC play next week.

Sophomore Emily Friedrich led the Cobber offense in Wisconsin. She finished with 41 kills and 40 digs in the four matches. She also hit .118 for the weekend. Freshman Brianna Carney led all Concordia players with a .257 attack percentage. Senior Jena Klaphake started the tournament by posting 74 assists and finished the four matches with a team-high 102 helpers. Stephanie Baker led the defense with 45 digs.

The Cobbers appeared to be rolling in their first match against St. Norbert. CC won the first set in Wisconsin handily at 25-18. They dropped the second in extra points 28-26 but then rebounded with an impressive 25-11 win in the third set to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Nearing the finish line Concordia was tied 20-20 but then lost five of the next seven points to fall and lost 25-22. It looked like the Cobbers had shook off the fourth-set loss as they took a 4-1 lead in at the start of the fifth set. That lead soon disappeared as the Green Knights won six straight points and 12 of the next 15 to put the match away with a 15-9 win.

Friedrich had 15 kills and six digs while Mandy Mercil added 11 winners and 10 digs. Baker posted a team-high 16 digs and Klaphake had 32 assists.

The second match of the day against Lakeland was more of the same as Concordia rolled to easy set wins but then lost to close sets and eventually fell in the fifth.

The Muskies took a 1-0 lead with a 27-25 win in the opener. CC cruised to a 25-16 victory to even the match at 1-1 before Lakeland went up 2-1 with a 25-22 victory. The Cobbers forced a fifth set with a 25-18 win but couldn't rattle off a string of consecutive points in the fifth and lost 15-11.

A trio of Concordia players had double-digit kill totals against the Muskies. Friedrich led the way with 15 and Haley Cuppett and Carney each had 13 winners.

Saturday was a different story as the Cobbers ran into a pair of successful Wisconsin state schools. Stevens Point entered the day with a 12-1 record while Eau Claire was 8-2 and had won seven of their previous eight matches.

The Pointers rolled over the Cobbers 25-12, 25-14, 25-7. The second match of the day against Eau Claire was a more back-and-forth affair with the Blugolds claiming the sweep with set scores of 25-19, 25-17, 25-20.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will return home to host Augsburg in the conference home opener. CC will square off against the Auggies on Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. Augsburg is currently 7-6 on the year and swept St. Olaf in their MIAC opener. Last year Concordia swept the Auggies in Minneapolis.