A Rough Road Trip

WINONA, Minn. (9/30/17)---Concordia finished up its annual back-to-back conference road trip by falling 3-0 (25-22, 25-12, 25-17). 

The Cobbers dropped a 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 27-25) decision on Friday night at Carleton.

The two losses drop Concordia's overall record to 3-10 while the Cobbers are 1-4 in conference play.

The match on Saturday at Winona hung in the balance until the final points of the opening set. Concordia trailed 16-15 but then St. Mary's won three of the next four points to take a 19-16 lead. They would hold on to that three-point advantage for the remainder of the set as the teams traded the final points.

The decisive stretch of the second set came with the score at 13-10 in favor of the Cardinals. SMU went on a 12-2 run to win the set 25-12. The third set was more of the same. The set was tied 10-10 and then St. Mary's won 15 of the next 22 points to win 25-17.

Concordia hit .121 in the first set but then didn't climb over the .030 mark for the next two sets and finished the match with a .041 mark.

Emily Friedrich led the Cobbers with a .333 attack percentage and finished with four kills. Haley Cuppett had a team-high six kills. Emma Chandler and Alicia Louters also had four kills. Jill Klaphake had 11 assists and Stephanie Baker added 13 digs.

Friday night's match went all the way to the wire and it looked like Concordia would win the final third set. CC was serving and led 23-22 but then a kill and attack error gave Carleton a 24-23 lead. CC got a kill from Louters to stave off the first set point. The Cobbers fell behind 25-24 and then Emma Chandler came up with a winner to tie it at 25-25. The Knights then got two straight kills to win the set 27-25.

Concordia hit .157 for the match but couldn't stop the Knights who hit .299 for the three sets.

Cuppett and Chandler combined for 17 kills to pace the Concordia offense. Cuppett had nine winners and hit .114 while Chandler finished with a match-high .583 attack percentage and also had three blocks.

Lexi Turn came away with a team-high 18 assists and Baker collected 12 digs.       

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will hope a return home will lead to success. The Cobbers host Hamline on Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 7:00 and will then host Minn.-Morris in a non-conference match on Friday, Oct. 13 at 7:00.