Settling For A Conference Weekend Split

MOORHEAD, Minn.  (10/01/16)—Concordia couldn't recreate its Friday night magic when they beat St. Olaf 3-1 and lost 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-14) to St. Mary's.

The Cobbers tried to find the mojo they had in their recent three-match win streak as they led early on in each set but big middle-set runs by the Cardinals cost the Cobbers the match.

Concordia is now 6-9 on the year and goes to 3-2 in conference play. The Cobbers are still in the Top 5 of the league standings as they fall into a tie for fifth place. St. Mary's wins for the 11th time in the last 12 matches and ups its record to 16-2 overall and 4-1 in the MIAC. CC and SMU were tied in the league standings heading into the match.

Concordia jumped out to one-point leads on three different occasions in the first 13 points of the opening set but then a 6-2 run gave the Cardinals a 16-10 lead. CC would get to within four points at 16-12 but then two straight kills pushed the lead back to six points and the Cobbers would never get closer than five points the rest of the set.

The Cobbers held a 5-1 early in the second set and led as late as 16-15 but once again a multiple-point run pushed the momentum in the Cardinals' favor. SMU won five straight points to grab a 20-16 lead and then won four of the final seven points after CC cut the lead to 21-18.

Concordia held a 4-1 lead in the third set and was within one point at 12-11 before the roof blew away. St. Mary's rattled off a 12-2 run and put CC on the edge of defeat with a 24-13 lead. The Cobbers would fight back against one match point but then SMU got a kill on the left side to win the match.

The Cobbers hit .093 in the match as opposed to .280 for St. Mary's. CC only had 30 kills in the three sets.

Haley Cuppett had a team-high nine winners and Brianna Carney and Emma Chandler each added eight kills. Jena Klaphake posted 26 assists and Stephanie Baker recorded 16 digs.      

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will look to start another win streak when they host non-conference foe Minn.-Morris on Monday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. The Cobbers outlasted the Cougars 3-2 in a five-set thriller on Sept. 23.