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Moorhead, Minn.-- A day after earning the highest national ranking in program history, Concordia was brought back down to earth by an intense, hungry St. Thomas team as the Cobbers were swept 3-0. The match was the MIAC season-opener for both schools. The loss is the first of the season for Concordia and stops their record-setting, season-starting winning streak at six.

The Cobbers fall to 6-1 overall, while St. Thomas improves to 7-2. In the past two weeks the Tommies have now posted wins over a pair of schools in the top 15 of the nation. St. Thomas started the season by beating #3-ranked New York University.

At the start of the match, the two teams were content to trade points and look for any opening that they could exploit. The crack finally appeared for the Tommies with the game tied at 20-20. St. Thomas ran off the next four points to take control of the game at 24-20. After Concordia cut the lead in half at 24-22, St. Thomas regained their composure and rattled off the next two points. They finished off game one by outscoring Concordia 4-1 down the stretch.

The second game played out in similar fashion until the 23-23 mark. That is hen the Tommies once again pulled away and walked away with the 30-25 victory. Of the final five points in the game for St. Thomas, three came off of kills by an aggressive frontline and the other two were on miscues from the Cobbers.

The third, and final, game was won at the starting gate. The Tommies raced to leads of 5-2 and then 10-4, and were able to hold off Concordia in the final stages of the game. The Cobbers pulled to within four at 22-18 before St. Thomas called timeout and promptly rattled off eight of the final13 points to close out the match at 30-23.

The effectiveness of the Tommies came from their play at the net. St. Thomas finished the match with an attack percentage of .242 and forced the Cobbers into 21 attacking errors.

St. Thomas junior outside hitter Rachelle Dosch led all players with 14 kills. She also had a match-high 18 digs. The Tommies had two other players break the 10-kill barrier. Kristin Storrs finished with 12 winners and Erika Wetzel totaled 11. Sarah Rainey posted a match-high 27 assists to lead the Tommie offense.

Not a single Cobber player had double-digit kill totals. Becca Shane had a team-high nine kills and Danielle Norby, showing flashes of raw power, had eight. Jill Hance and Alyssa Dahl were the top assist leaders for Concordia. Hance had a team-high 17 and Dahl finished with 14. Hance and Emily Gilbertson each posted 11 digs.

Concordia’s next action will be on Friday, Sept. 16 when they host the annual Concordia Invitational. The Cobbers will play UMMorris on Friday at 2:00pm. They will also play St. Boniface at 4:30pm and then finish off the first day by playing the University of Sioux Falls at 7:00pm. Concordia will close out the tournament on Saturday when the play Northwestern at 10:00am. All
matches will be played in Olson Forum.