Third Set Swings Match With Morris

MOORHEAD, Minn. (10/08/19)---Concordia lost the pivotal third set in their match with Minn.-Morris and fell 3-1 (25-14, 18-25, 25-23, 25-15) to the Cougars in the penultimate non-conference match of the season.

The Cobbers and Cougars traded the first two sets with Morris winning the opener 25-14 and then Concordia rebounding to win 25-18 in the second. The third set went down to the final points as the Cougars won three straight points after the Cobbers held a 23-22 lead.

The loss ends Concordia's 1-match win streak and pushes their overall record to 5-13 on the season. Morris has now won five of its last seven matches and moves to 9-10 on the year.

Morris used the late third-set momentum to open the fourth set on a 4-0 run. Concordia got to within three points at 7-4 but then the Cougars won the next five points to take a 12-4 lead and CC was never able to recover.

Concordia hit .276 in the third set but Morris was able to counter with a .300 attack percentage in the pivotal set. The .276 was the top mark of any set for the Cobbers while the Cougars hit a match-best .353 in the fourth set.

The Cobbers finished the match with 43 kills and hit .126. CC has now had at least 40 winners in three of the last four matches. Morris had a kill percentage of .242 and put down 52 kills over the four sets. The Cougars held a slight 62-59 edge in digs for the match.

Brianna Carney and Gabby DeBoer both had a team-high eight kills for the match. Carney also had three blocks while DeBoer hit .143 and added nine digs.

Jill Klaphake came away with a team-high 21 assists and posted seven digs. Junior Casey Coste finished with 18 digs and has now had a team-high 61 digs in the last four matches.

BLOCK WATCH: Concordia had 10 more blocks in the match and has now recorded double-digit kill totals in five of the past six matches. The Cobbers lead the MIAC with 176 total blocks for the year. That mark is fourth in all of NCAA Division III. CC is all fourth in DIII in blocks per set. Kendra Wiggs had a match-high six blocks and the tandem of Wiggs and Brianna Carney are in the Top 3 in the MIAC in total blocks.      

UP NEXT: Concordia will play a pair of conference matches on the road this weekend. The Cobbers will play at St. Olaf on Friday, Oct. 11 and then head south to Winona to take on St. Mary's on Saturday, Oct. 12.