A Royal Rollercoaster Weekend

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. (9/07/13)—Concordia split their matches on both days of the Bethel Invitational and left Arden Hills with a 2-2 record. The Cobbers are now 6-3 overall.

Concordia opened the tournament with a 3-1 loss against unbeaten Nebraska Wesleyan then posted a 3-0 victory over Luther. The Cobbers then finished off the weekend by beating Martin Luther 3-0 before losing to Bethel 3-1.

Sophomore outside hitter Olivia Wangensteen was named to the All-Tournament Team for the second straight weekend. She had 34 kills in the four matches and also added 36 digs and four service aces. Wangensteen now leads Concordia with 95 kills and 114.0 total points.

The Cobbers stumbled in the third and fourth sets in their opener against Nebraska Wesleyan. After tying the match at 1-1 with a 28-26 victory in set No.2, CC then fell 25-20 and 25-12. Concordia's offense struggled in set 3 – hitting just .043 and then in the fourth set the Cobbers were unable to contain the Prairie Wolves as Nebraska Wesleyan had a .583 attack percentage.

Concordia rebounded against Luther, hitting over .260 in all three sets in sweeping the Norse. Kayla Hampton and Kynndyl Ross led the way for CC as both players had 10 kills each.  Alyssa Schmidt had 17 digs and freshman setter Mandy Mercil posted 39 assists.

Saturday played out as a mirror opposite from the first day of the invite. Concordia cruised in the first match but then found it tough going in the second match. The Cobbers hit above .250 in all three sets against Martin Luther and limited the Knights to an attack percentage of .177. Ross had 17 winners which is the second highest kill total of the season for the All-MIAC junior. She also hit .556 for the match. Wangensteen had eight kills and 11 digs while Schmidt added 19 digs.

Against the host Royals in the tournament finale, CC once again tied the match at 1-1 but then watched Bethel hit .375 in the third set and .524 in the fourth set and lost 3-1. The Cobbers led the third set 8-7 before BU rattled off 10 of the next 14 points to take a 17-12 lead. Concordia then gave up 12 of the final 14 points in the fourth set. Anna Skow-Anderson led CC with seven kills as the Cobbers hit just .113 for the match.

Concordia will now travel to Oregon to play three matches. The Cobbers will take on Puget Sound on Friday, Sept. 13 before squaring off against Pacific and Pacific Lutheran on Saturday, Sept. 14.