Cobbers Dropped By Red-Hot Royals

ARDEN HILLS, Minn.(9/22/21)---Concordia ran into a red-hot, nationally-ranked Bethel squad and was swept (25-12, 25-15, 25-8) in their first road conference match of the season.

The match was also the last contest of the month for the Cobbers. CC finishes September with a 5-9 overall mark and a 0-2 record in MIAC play. The Royals, who are No. 21 in Division III in the latest AVCA rankings, win for the eighth time in the last nine matches. They are now 10-2 overall and 1-0 in league play.

Concordia scored the very first point of the match and never led after that point. Extended point streaks hurt the Cobbers' on Wednesday. CC gave up a 6-0 streak in the opening set, strings of four straight points and three consecutive points in the middle set, and then started the final set by allowing the first 14 points of the bout.

Concordia finished the match by hitting .097 as opposed to a .416 clip for Bethel. The Royals also put down 29 more kills and had 17 more digs in the match.

The Cobbers were led by senior Anna Brakke who had 11 kills to go along with nine digs. She was the only Cobber player with more than four winners in the match. Brakke has now posted a double-digit kill total in nine of the last 10 matches.

Chloe Markovic had 12 digs to lead the Concordia defense, while Kenzie Urbanec posted 18 assists in the three sets.

UP NEXT: Concordia will have a 9-day break before returning to action on Friday, Oct. 1 when they host St. Catherine at 7 p.m.