st. Paul, minn. - an explosive offense gave concordia university (35-1) an ncaa championship quarterfinal win over the university of new haven (31-4) on thursday evening. The golden bears ripped out 42 kills while hitting .425 as they gained their 35th consecutive win in search of another ncaa division ii title. They face grand valley state in the national semifinals on friday at 7:30 pm at gangelhoff center.
"we are super fired up to be in the next round," said starkey of the semifinal berth. "you look at the stats and they're great, but you have to throw them out the window. We have another game." (watch the entire press conference)
concordia didn't come charging out of the gates at the university of new haven, but it didn't take them long to put away the jitters and get things rolling. With 15 kills and just two errors in the first set, the golden bears upheld both their #1 national ranking and a reputation as an offensive powerhouse. They kept rolling through the 56 minute, 3-0 win, and spread the ball around to all of the team's hitters. The range in kills from concordia's five hitters spread from no less than seven and no more than ten.
"they (cu hitters) can all terminate the ball," explained setter maggie mcnamara of the team's offense. "who i set depends on the pass, the defense, the play, but it helps me that they are all go-to players. They give me a lot of options," said the junior who will finish her third consecutive season leading the ncaa in assists.
the win was special for the golden bears, who are defending their 2007 ncaa division ii championship title on their home court. The gangelhoff center was aflurry with 1,212 supporters who jumped on the backs of their golden bears and provided a tremendous playing atmosphere.
"we love playing in front of a big crowd," said the team's celebration expert, junior sadie kessler. "we thrive off of emotional energy and it helps to have the backing of the fans."
kessler had a tremendous match for the golden bears, putting down ten kills in 13 attempts. She did not commit an error all night. Senior whitney meierotto also posted ten kills and, for the 18th time this season, marked a double-double with 11 digs. With seven kills on the night, sophomore emily palkert became the fastest player in concordia history to reach 1,000 career kills. She now has 1,004 kills in her short career. Another milestone was reached by senior maria steinhagen who became tied for second in golden bear history with her 428th block.
the chargers worked hard to get in their swings and find holes in the concordia defense. Their outside attackers found success and helped lead the team to a .131 hitting average, close to what opponents have been hitting against cu all season. charisse cotton, a senior, led her team with seven kills. brittani cotton, also a senior outside hitter, had six kills. Troubling new haven on the evening was the concordia serve, which racked up seven aces and kept the chargers out of system. Another senior, katrina ali, wrapped up her volleyball career with nine digs and moved in as the school's all-time dig leader.
