Cobbers Fall In Fan-Filled Home Opener

MOORHEAD, Minn.(9/15/21)---Concordia welcomed back fans for the first time in two years, and Cobber Nation showed up loud in the home opener against Augsburg.

Playing in front of the boisterous crowd, Concordia took the Auggies into extra points in the first set, but couldn't hold the momentum and lost 3-0 (25-27, 17-25, 16-25).

The loss in the first home match of the season drops the Cobbers' record to 4-6 on the year. Augsburg, who is receiving votes in the latest AVCA DIII national rankings, improves to 5-4.

Concordia sprinted out of the gate in the first set and held leads of 10-4, 12-6 and 14-9. The Auggies made their move after trailing by five points midway through the set. They were able to go on a 7-2 run to tie the score at 16-16. The set would stay within one point until Augsburg scored two straight points to take a 23-21 lead. The teams trade points, and then CC staved off two set points on a kill from Anna Brakke and an attack error by the Auggies. Concordia earned a set point of their own when they forced Augsburg into another attack error. Unfortunately for the Cobbers, the scoring streak ended at three as Augsburg rattled off three straight of their own to take the first set at 27-25.

The Cobbers never led in the second or third sets. The middle set was won on an 8-2 streak by the Auggies after CC had cut the lead to 11-9. Concordia was within three points at the md point of Set 3 when Augsburg 10 of the next 14 points and won 25-16.

Not surprisingly, Concordia had their top kill total in the first set when they put down 14 winners and hit .157. The Cobbers finished with 35 kills and an attack percentage of .153 for the match. The Auggies hit over .300 in the last two sets and had 52 winners to go along with a .237 kill percentage.

Seniors Kendra Wiggs and Brakke led the Concordia offense. Wiggs had a team-high 11 kills and hit .250. It was the third time in the last four matches that Wiggs has had at least 10 kills. She now has 449 kills for her career. Brakke had 10 winners and added 12 digs to record her sixth consecutive double-double. She now has 493 kills for her career.       
  
Sophomore Chloe Markovic had a stellar match on defense and came away with a team-high 16 digs. She has now put up double-digit dig totals in four straight matches.

Freshman Kenzie Urbanec had 30 assists on the night, which marks the third straight match she has recorded at least 30 helpers.

UP NEXT: Concordia will step back outside of conference play when they travel west to take on Mayville State on Friday, Sept. 17 at 6 p.m. The Comets are 10-4 on the year and have won three straight.