TOURNAMENT AWARDS:

All-Tournament Team: Abby Scheel, Katie Vohnoutka, Amy Sykora
Tournament MVP: Amy Sykora

TOURNAMENT RECAP:

COLORADO COLLEGE, Colo. (9/13/08)-- Concordia used the Colorado College Invitational to get ready for the upcoming MIAC conference schedule. The Cobbers passed the test with flying colors as they went 4-0 and grabbed the team championship as well as several individual honors. CC won two tight matches on Friday and then cruised to a pair of 3-0 wins on Saturday to claim their second tournament title of the 2008 season. Earlier in the year Concordia won the Cobber Invitational.

The Cobbers once again used a blend of experienced players and a batch of up-and-coming freshmen to post the four victories. Seniors Abby Scheel and Anna Tinkham provided the on-court leadership and freshmen Katie Vohnoutka, Amy Sykora and Jenna Green supplied the youthful enthusiasm to help Concordia win their four straight matches and improve to 7-1 on the year. Scheel had 22 kills in the four matches but her presence was felt on defense where she had a team-high 15 blocks. For her all-around play, she was named to the All-Tournament Team. Tinkham had a team-high 68 digs in the four matches and had five service aces. Vohnoutka had 18 kills and seven blocks to go along with 19 digs and was also placed on the All-Tournament Team. Sykora had her breakout tournament as she led CC with 99 assists in the four matches. She also recorded 21 digs and 11 kills and walked away with Tournament MVP honors. Green had a team-high 38 kills in the tournament and had 26 digs. She also posted 44.5 points for the Cobbers.

CC started the tournament with a tight 3-2 (19-25, 25-19, 25-22, 20-25, 15-10) win over East Texas Baptist State. That match would be the toughest of the four and highlighted the character of the team as they were able to pull out another five-set win against a more experienced team .The Cobbers then finished off the first day by beating host Colorado College 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-15, 27-25). CC dropped the first set against the Tigers but then came roaring back to win the next three sets including a back-and-forth fourth set to pick up the win.

The two wins on Saturday were much easier as Concordia failed to drop a set with both matches lasting only one hour. CC beat Whittier in the first match on Saturday 25-21, 25-12, 25-20. They then beat Whitman 25-9, 25-18, 25-22 to complete the four-match sweep and earn the tournament championship.

Concordia will now turn to conference play when they open the MIAC at St. Kate's on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.