MATCH SCOREBOARD:

Team	Gm1	Gm2	Gm3	Gm 4	Gm 5
	23	30	25	30	9
	30	28	30	21	15

MATCH REWIND:

Match Stats: Final Stats vs. UW-Eau Claire - Now online!

Match Pictures: Cobber Volleyball Photo Gallery

MATCH RECAP:

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (11/10/06)-- Concordia stumbled in the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the third time in the past four year, losing to No.7-ranked UW-Eau Claire 3-2 (30-23, 28-30, 30-25, 21-30, 15-9). The two teams traded games before the Blugolds made a late-game surge in the fifth, and deciding, game to come away with the victory and advance to the region semifinals where they will play defending national champion UW-Whitewater.

The loss snaps the Cobbers 18-match winning streak and gives Concordia a 25-2 record to end the 2006 season. Eau Claire moves to 30-3 on the year.

Danielle Dahl and Becca Shane led the Cobbers offensive attack. Dahl had a team-high 14 kills and Shane added 13. As a team, Concordia had 55 kills and hit .179 as opposed to 75 kills and a .201 attack percentage for the Blugolds. The telling difference came in the fifth game where Concordia hit .000 as a team and Eau Claire was able to put up an attack percentage of .238.

The usually tight Cobber defense was unable to shut down the potent Eau Claire front-line for most of the game. The Cobber receiving corps did a nice job picking up the slack and they helped Concordia get to the fifth game. The Cobbers had four players with at least 10 digs in the match. Angie Bonde and Michelle Honek had 13 digs each, while Anna Walden added 12 and sophomore Anna Tinkham had 11. Tinkham came off the bench to give the Cobbers a huge spark in the final two games.

Alyssa Dahl finished the match with a team-high 29 assists.

In the first game, Concordia took an early lead at 4-1 but then UW-Eau Claire woke up and evened the score at 4-4. The teams then traded points until the pivotal section of the game when the Blugolds ran off eight of ten points and turned a 12-9 deficit into a 17-4 advantage. The Cobbers then called timeout but were never really able to get back into the opening game despite edging to within two at 22-20. Eau Claire then grabbed the next two points and eight of the final nine points to win 30-23.

In the second game, the Cobbers borrowed the blueprint from Eau Claire in the first game as they broke open the game with an 8-2 run after Eau Claire had gone out to an 11-9 lead. Concordia sprinted to a 27-22 advantage before the Blugolds chipped away at the lead, forced Concordia head coach Tim Mosser to call a pair of timeouts and tied the game at 28-28. The Cobbers then buckled down to win the final two points of the game and even the match with a 30-28 victory.

In the third game, the Blugolds bolted to a 9-3 lead before Concordia reeled them in to take a 13-12 lead. Eau Claire then went on a 7-2 run to reestablish their momentum. The Cobbers returned the favor to creep to within one at 23-22 but were then blocked away as the Blugolds won seven of the final 10 points.

In the fourth game, two big runs sealed the deal for Concordia. Trailing 6-5, the Cobbers went on an 8-2 run to take a 14-7 lead and then after the Blugolds had creeped to within one at 17-16, the Cobbers took a timeout and went on an 8-0 run to pull away and grab the 30-21 win.

The final game was decided in the final stretch of play. After the teams traded points and remained deadlocked throughout the first 18 points of the game with ties at 3-3, 6-6 and 9-9 - Eau Claire finished the match by winning the final six points to earn the hard-fought victory.