3-Win Finish In The Lone Star State

BELTON, Wis. (9/02/23)----Concordia started slow but finished fast at the Mary Hardin Baylor Tournament. The Cobbers lost to the host Cru in the opener and then rattled off three straight wins to finish the weekend 3-1.

The three wins mark the first time since 2015 that Concordia has started the season with a 3-1 record in its first four matches.

A trio of seniors led the Cobbers in Texas. Brook Carney finished with a team-high 50 kills and hit .242. Kaia Lill came away with 140 assists, while Chloe Markovic recorded 56 digs.  

Concordia could never get any offensive traction in the opener against Mary Hardin Baylor and lost 25-17, 25-15, 25-18. CC hit .126 in the match, and junior Maria Watt posted a team-high 11 kills.

The second match on opening day was the most dramatic of the weekend. The Cobbers and Schreiner (Tex.) traded set wins before CC won five of the final six points in the decisive fifth set to win 3-2 (25-21, 20-25, 25-16, 22-25, 15-11). The fifth set was tied at 10-10, and then sophomore Mallory Leitner had a kill, which was followed by a pair of attack errors from the Mountaineers and a match-winning kill from Watt.

The Cobbers hit .245 against Schreiner and had a weekend-best 58 kills. Carney hammered her way to a career-high 19 kills. The 19 kills are the most by a Cobber since Emily Friedrich posted 22 against Coe on Oct. 15, 2016.

Lill had 47 assists in the win over Schreiner and was one of four players to have at least 10 digs in the match. Lill (12), Hannah Keil (14), Hanna Mooney (15) and Markovic all led the stifling CC defense.

Concordia went 2-0 on Saturday with a sweep in the opener over Simpson (25-17, 25-21, 25-17) and then roared back from a 1-0 deficit to beat Concordia (Tex.) (21-25, 25-14, 25-16, 25-17) in the battle of the Concordias.

Carney led the Cobbers' offense in both matches on Day 2. She had 13 winners against Simpson and then added 12 more against Concordia.

Concordia hit .189 against Simpson and then posted a weekend-high .250 mark vs. the Tornadoes.

UP NEXT: Concordia will host Valley City State in the home opener on Tuesday, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m.