Thursday, November 20
7:30 p.m. - Gangelhoff Center - St. Paul, Minn.
No. 1 seed #1 Concordia University (32-1) vs. No. 8 seed Regis University (19-12)
BOX SCORE
RECAP:
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia University (32-1), the #1-ranked team in both the nation and the Central Region, began it's trek toward defending a national title with a 3-1 win the Central Region quarterfinals on Thursday evening (19-25, 25-10, 25-18, 25-17). The team warmed up to a .364 hitting average to send home #8-seeded Regis University (19-12). The Golden Bears now look ahead to the #4 seed, Nebraska-Kearney, on Friday at 8:00 pm.
After spending much of the day sitting in the Gangelhoff watching the other regional teams duke it out, it took the Golden Bears a set to warm up and get their game rolling. The Rangers out-hit the Golden Bears, finding holes in the CU defense and acing Concordia's passers four times before taking the 25-19 set win.
"Regis played really well in the first game," admitted Concordia head coach, Brady Starkey.
But the tide quickly turned in the second set as Concordia put down 18 kills with just one error, good for a .607 hitting average and a 25-10 win. Junior Maggie McNamara, who finished the match with 53 assists, described how the team turned things around, saying, "As a team, we just tried to bring more energy toward each other. We just executed better."
Despite going out in three sets following an energetic first set win, the Rangers refused to go down quietly. They fought back from an early deficit in the third game and tied things up 14-14 at the mid-point. Their defense battled hard to contain Concordia's overwhelming offensive might and forced the Golden Bears to remain focused for the remainder of the match.
Senior outside hitter Whitney Meierotto had a double-double effort, her 15th of the season, in the Golden Bear win. She had 13 kills and 12 digs to go with four ace serves and two block assists. Leading the CU offense was freshman power swinger Ellie Duffy, who marked 15 kills with a .520 average. The wealth was further passed aroune with 14 kills from Emily Palkert and ten from Maria Steinhagen, who also had a team high four blocks (1s, 3a). The team hit .364 on the evening and had nine ace serves, 53 digs and six blocks.
The effort by Regis University was led by Jessica Howe with a team high 15 kills. She was the only Ranger to finish in double figures. Casidee Young and Devin Eckhardt combined for 28 of the team's 47 digs. Eckhardt had a double double with 34 assists. Sarah Keiter stayed tough on the CU hitters and finished with three block assists. Regis hit at a .208 clip with 43 kills.
"It's nice to get to the second round (of the Regional Tournament), we'll take it," said Starkey. "It wasn't the prettiest we've played all year, but we're off to the second round and that's all that matters."
The Golden Bears are now matched up with the tournament's #4 seed, #9 nationally ranked Nebraska-Kearney. The Lopers advanced with a 3-1 win over Augustana College in the quarterfinals.
CU Match Notes: The Golden Bears extended their school record win streak to 32 matches ... Concordia has never lost a first round regional match in six tries ... Brady Starkey won his 198th career match ... CU is hosting the Central Region Tournament for the fifth time in six seasons ... CU is now 2-0 vs. Regis this season ... they defeated Regis 3-0 on Sept. 5, 3-0 ... CU is now 17-4 in the NCAA Tournament and 12-2 in the region tournament ... this is the first time in school history that CU has played a team from the RMAC in first round of the NCAA Tournament ... Emily Palkert is 18 kills shy of 1,000 for her career ... Maggie McNamara is five digs shy of 1,000.
Regis Match Notes: Regis is making its 16th NCAA tournament appearance but first since 2001 ... The Rangers are 15-17 in those 16 appearances ... Regis is 0-5 against ranked teams this season, including a 3-0 home loss to Concordia (9/5/08) ... The Rangers had lost all four of their previous meetings with Concordia by 3-0 scores before tonight's 3-1 loss.
Press Conference Video:
CONCORDIA QUOTES:
Head Coach Brady Starkey:
Opening Statement: “Nice to get to the second round, we’ll take it. It wasn’t the prettiest we’ve played all year, but we’re off to the second round and that’s all that matters.
Starkey commenting on adjustments after game one: “It was executing. We didn’t do any adjusting, our girls just played better. Regis played really well in the first game.
Starkey commenting on playing Regis earlier in the season: “They’re pretty balanced. We just focused on our team and on our offense. That was our game plan, focus on our own end.
Junior setter Maggie McNamara:
McNamara commenting on distributing to different hitters: “All five are good hitters, but tonight we had a big block on one side. It’s always good to mix it up, sometimes you have to go to one person.
McNamara commenting on difference between game one and the rest of the match: “As a team we just tried to bring more energy towards each other. I didn’t change much, we just executed better.
REGIS QUOTES
Head Coach Frank Lavrisha:
Opening Statement: "Concordia did a nice job, once they got going, to play their game. We gave them a little scare in first set. We wanted to disrupt them but they gathered themselves and got on a roll."
On how his team's season evolved: "We're excited about how we finished the season. Our biggest change was moving Jess (Howe) from middle to outside, which gave us an offensive threat. We moved Liz Franz moved to the middle and it gave us an opportunity to compete at another level."
On the difference between game one and game two through four: "The biggest difference was in the passing game. We disrupted their's in the first game and they disrupted ours after that. It's kind of like controlling the line of scrimmage in football and I thought that was the difference in the game."
Sophomore setter Devin Eckhardt:
On her development this season: "My teammates have helped me out a lot with that and my coaches have helped me grow as a player. There is a big step to take now with two captains leaving but we have strong group coming back."
Sophomore middle hitter Jessica Howe:
On playing in the NCAA tournament for the first time: "It's a whole new experience and atmosphere. These are top teams and we needed to step up our game. It's a great learning tool for us. We've learned what we need to do in the upcoming seasons and we'll have to work hard in the spring. We need to keep pushing ourselves."
On her thoughts after winning game one: "I just thought we needed to keep playing the way we were, to keep pushing them. We felt we could play at their level and we needed to keep playing with that confidence.b"
