Volleyball | 10.15.14
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The #3 Concordia University volleyball team (16-3, 9-2 NSIC) faces off against a pair of ranked opponents as #20 Augustana (14-5, 7-4 NSIC) and #12 Wayne State (16-3, 9-2 NSIC) travel to St. Paul for NSIC play.
THE MATCHUPS... Concordia comes into Friday's match riding a 18 match winning streak against Augustana that stretches back to 1988 when Augustana picked up their only win against CU in their first meeting. The last time Augie took a set from CU was back in 2011 in St. Paul. Concordia swept the Vikings in Sioux Falls on October 12th last season as
Kayla Koenecke led the way with 14 kills and 16 digs with a .500 hitting percentage.
The Golden Bears meet the Wildcats for the 36th time dating back to 1999. Concordia is 26-10 all-time against WSC including splitting their two meetings last season. Each team took one on the road with Wayne State claiming a win in Concordia's home tournament on September 7th while Concordia knocked off WSC in conference play in Wayne on October 11th. Setter
Amanda Konetchy was brilliant in the win in Wayne, setting a school record for assists with 77. The previous record of 75 was set back in 2007 by Maggie McNamara also in Wayne State. She also managed a career high 17 digs in the match to complete the double-double. Koenecke also set a career high with 25 kills and also contributed an impressive 19 digs to pick up a double-double.
LAST TIME OUT... Concordia stayed undefeated at home with a four-set win over Winona State on Tuesday night.
The Concordia offense had a bit of an up-and-down night as they hit an incredible .500 in the first set and .469 in the fourth set and a much more pedestrian .176 in the second set and .135 in the fourth set to finish with a .282 hitting percentage overall. Their defense was dominant as usual as they limited the Warriors to just a .119 hitting percentage while collected an impressive 13.0 total blocks.
Mariya Sampson and
Anna Schlaak did much of the heavy lifting on the attack with 16 kills each while
Riley Hanson also finished in double figures with 11 kills. Sampson matched her career high with the 16 kills as she also chipped in four digs and four blocks. Schlaak was also active on the defensive end as she had a match-high 19 digs to pick up the double-double along with two blocks.
NCAA RANKS... With a bunch of new faces in the Cocordia lineup, several CU players rank near the top in statistical categories in the country.
Kasey Williams has picked up where graduate
Amanda Konetchy left off as she ranks fifth in the country with 11.97 assists per set.
Riley Hanson comes in at 16th in Division II in hitting percentage at .390 as well. The Golden Bears as a team rank second in the country with a .297 hitting percentage.
