MATCH SCOREBOARD:

Team	Gm 1	Gm 2	Gm 3
	25	24	19
	30	30	30

MATCH PREVIEW:

Matchday Program:

Complete Matchday Program vs St. Thomas (pdf)

MATCH REWIND:

Match Stats: Final Stats vs. St. Thomas - online!

Match Pictures: Cobber Volleyball Photo Gallery

Match Video Highlights: Cobber Highlight Page

MATCH RECAP:

MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/2/06)-- In one of the most impressive performances in program history, Concordia dispatched of No.7-ranked St. Thomas in a little over 1 hour and 15 minutes as the Cobbers swept the Tommies 30-25, 30-24, 30-19 in the semifinals of the MIAC Tournament on Thursday in Moorhead.

Concordia will now advance to the conference championship match for the third time in the past four years. The Cobbers will host upset-minded St. Ben's on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. with the winner receiving the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Blazers entered the league playoffs as the No.6 seed and pulled off upset wins over No. 3 Carleton on Tuesday and then backed it up by beating No.2 Gustavus on Thursday.

The Cobbers trailed only twice in the match (both 1-0 at the start of the first and third games) as they won their 16th straight match and improved their record-setting overall mark to 23-1. The 23 wins in the first 24 matches is the best start in program history. Concordia entered the match ranked fourth in the latest AVCA poll and will more than likely earn an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament should they be upset by St. Ben's on Saturday.

St. Thomas falls for only the sixth time all season as they drop to 28-6 on the year. They will now have to wait until Monday to find out whether they will earn a spot in the NCAA playoffs.

The Cobber offense and defense were both "on" all night long. As a team, Concordia had a .209 attack percentage and limited the Tommies to a hitting percentage of .072. The Cobbers have held MIAC opponents to under .100 in attacking percentage in seven of the 12 matches this season.

Concordia accomplished the 75-minute sweep without MIAC All-Conference front-line player Lindsay Sipma who was suffering from flu symptoms and could not play.

The Cobbers were able to stop any Tommie attack throughout the entire match and then pound down winner after winner as freshman Angie Bonde picked up the slack of not having Sipma in the lineup. Bonde and senior Danielle Dahl finished with a match-high 12 kills each. They were two of four Cobber players that finished the match with at least 10 kills. MIAC MVP Becca Shane had 11 kills and Michelle Honek chipped in 10. Bonde also had 23 digs to record her third double-double of the season. Her dig total ties her season-best for digs in a single match.

Shane continues to creep towards a quartet of the school's all-time career records. Her 11 kills brings her season total to 381 and her career mark to 1,476. Her season total is the highest in her four-year career and she now needs 63 more kills to break the career kill mark of 1,538 held by Laura Reitmeier (1995-98). Shane also had four blocks in the match, bringing her season total to 126 and her career total to an even 500. She needs only 11 more blocks to pass Jacki Barten (2001-04) as the school's all-time block leader. Shane is also knocking on the door of the program record for solo blocks and block assists in a career. She has 140 career solo blocks and needs six more to pass Reitmeier and has 360 career block assists and needs 14 to pass Barten.

Honek has quietly gone about her business of giving the Cobbers a threat from the outside on offense and another presence on defense. She added 15 digs to her 10 kills in the match to record her 12th double-double of the year. She has had at least 10 kills and 10 digs in five of the last six matches.

Anna Walden led the Cobber defense as she recorded 28 digs and did not make a receiving error in the three-game sweep. Sophomores Jill Hance and Katlin Anderson captained the Concordia offense. Hance had a match-high 25 assists and Anderson added 19.

St. Thomas was led by Rachelle Dosch who finished with a team-high 11 kills in 39 attacks. Katie Kremer had 28 kills and Sarah Rainey had 18 assists.