Dec. 5, 2009

Final Stats

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears gave the Lady Buffs all they could handle as they defeated the West Texas A&M Lady Buffs in three sets for their third-consecutive NCAA National title. The set scores were 18-25, 18-25, and 16-25 as WT finished their season with a 39-4 overall record. Concordia finishes their season undefeated at 37-0.

“I’m very proud of the effort of the team,” said head coach Jason Skoch. “The score was closer than it appeared in the sense that we gave away a lot of points on errors. Concordia is good because they are consistent and they don’t make errors.”

“It’s just amazing to have this somewhat fairytale ending to this season,” said senior Melissa Harper. “We came in with the goal to play on December 5^th and we did it.”

Championship action began in the first set with a Concordia error, but they quickly came back, hitting a kill and two service aces. The Lady Buffs’ Lauren Purdy started the scoring for WT and followed with a block by Melissa Harper and a Laura Prinsen kill to go up 5-3. Both teams battled, tying the set several times before the Golden Bears put together two kills and a block for a 10-13 lead. A long rally at 13-17 gave Concordia a four-point lead. At 14-18, the Golden Bears went on a five-point run to go up 14-22. WT fought to catch up, but a Concordia kill finished the set 18-25.

In a set of errors, Concordia was not without their own as they gave up three attack errors after a kill by Lauren Thedford to bring the score to 16-21. Thedford found the court for two more kills, but another error by the Lady Buffs finished the set 18-25.

The Lady Buffs continued to struggle in the third set, and despite kills by Natalie Johnson, Harper, and Prinsen, they couldn’t get in system and were down 8-15. Concordia went six-point run to bring the score to 9-21. The Lady Buffs battled for several more points, but an attack error gave Concordia their third-consecutive NCAA National title.

It was clear that WT struggled in hitting as they finished with their lowest hitting percentage of the season at .037, while Concordia hit at a .174 clip.

Three Lady Buffs were named to the all-tournament team; Laura Prinsen, Katie Rickwartz and Melissa Harper.

“The things we’ve been able to accomplish this season, it’s what you become a college athlete to do,” said senior Katie Rickwartz. “I got to play against the best team in the nation in the national championship. It’s hard to take a loss anytime, but they were the best of the best, and if you are going to lose, you want it to be against a team like that.”

This was the first National Championship final for WT since 1997. The team graduates four seniors that contributed greatly in their four years.