MATCH REWIND:

Match Stats: Concordia vs. Bethel Box Score - Now Online!

MATCH RECAP:

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. (10/29/08)--Concordia swept Bethel 25-22, 38-36, 25-18 on Wednesday in Arden Hills in the penultimate MIAC regular-season match that featured a wild 38-36 second set. With the victory the Cobbers push their overall record to 20-3 on the year marking the sixth time in the past seven seasons that CC has won at least 20 matches. Concordia is now 8-2 in conference and in a three-way tie for second place. The Cobbers will finish off the regular season by hosting St. Ben's on Saturday in a match that will feature two of the three teams tied for second place.

Concordia freshman Jenna Green had another monster night as she marches towards MIAC Rookie of the Year honors. Green had a match-high 17 kills, a team-high 23 digs and a career-high eight blocks. Her dig total was one shy of a career high. In the past three matches Green has 43 kills, 58 digs and 13 blocks.

Green was one of two Cobbers with at least 13 kills in the three-set match. Fellow freshman Katie Vohnoutka had 13 kills to go along with seven digs and one block. Amy Sykora had 21 assists and 12 digs, while senior Anna Tinkham recorded 18 digs.

As a team Concordia hit .177 for the match as compared to only .093 for the Royals. The Cobber defense also came up with 89 digs and 9.0 total team blocks. Bethel (9-17/2-8 MIAC) had 77 digs and 8.0 total team blocks.

The wildest part of the match came in the second set. After Concordia had posted a 25-22 win in the first set, the teams settled in for a marathon second set. Bethel was able to build three-point leads on three different occasions but each time the Cobbers were able to rally and cut into the lead. The last three-point margin came at 19-16. From there, CC scored the next four points to take a 20-19 lead. After that, the set was never more than two points in one teams favor and was tied 16 more times. All told the second set featured 23 tie scores and 11 lead changes. The set turned out to be the longest in Cobber volleyball history.

In the 74-point set, Green had 14 of her 23 digs. She also had four kills and three blocks. Jill Hance had nine assists in the set for CC and Royal setter Betsy Naatjes posted 16 assists.

The set was determined after the score was tied at 36-36. After tying the score, the Royals committed a service error and then Cobber front liner Valerie Glynn hammered home a winner to record the 38-36 victory.

The third set was anticlimactic as CC used an 8-2 run in the middle to coast to a 25-18 victory.

Concordia and St. Ben's will square off for MIAC playoff seeding on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 3 p.m. in Memorial Auditorium. The match is part of a Cobber sports fiesta on Saturday. The football team will host St. Olaf at 1 p.m. and then the men's hockey team will be home to play UW-Eau Claire at 7 p.m. In all, nine Cobber athletic teams will be in action on Saturday. That is two fewer sports than St. Ben's offers during the entire school year.