The Right Split Keeps Cobbers Unbeaten In MIAC Play
Concordia swept St. Mary's in a conference match but then lost a 5-set thriller to Central in a non-conference battle. The Cobbers are now 2-0 in MIAC play for the first time since 2015.
WINONA, Minn. (9/23/23)---Concordia got the win they needed and almost rallied to get the win in their two matches at St. Mary's. The Cobbers swept the Cardinals (25-23, 27-25, 25-23) in the lone MIAC match of the day and then recovered from a 2-0 deficit against Central before falling in the fifth set in the non-conference match.
The win against St. Mary's gave Concordia a 2-0 start to their conference campaign. The 2-0 start marks the first time since 2015 that CC has opened MIAC play with back-to-back wins. The loss to the Dutch (11-2) in match No.2 ended a stretch that saw the Cobbers win six of seven. Concordia returns home from the weekend trip with a 10-4 record.
THE NEXT LEVEL: The 10 wins for the Cobbers in 2023 marks the first double-digit win season since 2015, when Concordia went 15-11 and made the MIAC playoffs.
CONCORDIA vs. ST. MARY'S: The Cobbers' end-of-set success was tested against the Cardinals. Concordia led SMU 23-18 in the opening set and held on to win 25-23. St. Mary's cut the Concordia lead down to 24-23 before the CC defense forced an attack error to record the 2-point win.
The second set came down to the final two points after the score was tied at 23-23, 24-24 and 25-25. An SMU attack error and a kill from Hannah Keil gave Concordia the 2-0 lead. The Cobbers trailed for most of the second set but made a 4-0 run to tie the score at 21-21 after they trailed by as many as five points.
The final set also came down to the last two points. With the score tied at 23-23, Keil had another key winner, and then senior Brook Carney came through with the match-clinching kill.
Keil, Carney and Mallory Leitner combined for 26 of the team's 38 kills against the Cardinals. Carney and Leitner had nine winners each, and Keil added eight more. Kaia Lill led the CC offense with 34 assists, and Chloe Markovic had 15 digs to pace the defense. Maria Watt chipped in three blocks.
CONCORDIA vs. CENTRAL: The Cobbers almost came all the way back from a 2-0 deficit, but lost the last three points of the fifth set and fell (25-22, 25-18, 20-25, 24-26, 15-12).
Leitner had another monster match. She hammered down 19 kills and has at least 12 winners in three of the past five matches. She has 70 kills during that stretch and has a career-high 149 winners for the year.
Keil and Carney both had double-digit kill totals against Central. Keil had 11 kills, and Carney recorded 10. Keil also had 18 digs.
Lill came through with 45 assists, while Markovic posted a season-high 30 digs. It's only the second time she has reached the 30-dig mark in her career.
UP NEXT: Concordia will have a 6-day break before hosting Hamline on Saturday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m.