#CUWStatsInfo: Falcons prepared for NACC Tournament

MEQUON, Wis. – Concordia University Wisconsin won the last two Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference matches they played to secure the No. 3 seed in the NACC Tournament. That momentum should carry over into a win-or-go home scenario on Tuesday night against sixth-seeded Benedictine University.

CUWFalcons.com dug through the statistics and notes from this season to find things that you need to know for Tuesday night and beyond.

Blocking: The Falcons led the NACC with 83 total blocks and 147 block assists. They made it difficult all season on the opposition's offense, with sophomores Kaily Moegenburg (Plymouth, Wis.) and Lauren Nevinski (New Berlin, Wis.) providing leadership up front. The duo combined for 74 block assists during league play and overall had 146 block assists combined during the 28 matches this season. This season CUW had 17 matches with double-figure block assists, including streaks of nine and six matches in a row.

Third in kills: CUW finished third in NACC play with 470 kills, behind top-seed Edgewood (483) and second-seeded Dominican (536). The Falcons averaged 11.46 kills per set during league play and had an attack percentage of .162. They had six players average over 1.50 kills per set in NACC play and were led by Moegenburg's 2.34 kills per set.

Serving needs to improve: The Falcons didn't perform so well when serving this season, committing too many errors. They 106 service errors in 11 NACC matches, compared to 61 service aces. Giving away nearly two service errors to every service ace will have to change if CUW wants to make a deep postseason run.

Setting duo is connecting with the hitters: Junior Karina Klotz (Hubertus, Wis.) and freshman Haley Sedo (Neenah, Wis.) have split the setting duties all season and have connected with the hitter's quite well. In conference matches Klotz has recorded 214 assists and Sedo has 166 assists. Both rank in the top-16 in the NACC rankings for assists and Klotz has double-digit assists in every match this season, while Sedo has done so in all but four matches. If they offense is to perform well, they duo must put the ball in a spot for the hitters to smash it.

Casper has shined all season: Freshman Lindsey Casper (Hubertus, Wis.) has made some unbelievable defensive plays this season, putting her body on the line for the betterment of the team. She has dug 409 attack attempts this season, with 135 coming during league play. Casper ranks sixth in the league for digs per set (4.22) and has six double-figure dig matches this season, including back-to-back matches on Saturday.

Erasing last season's NACC Tournament loss: The Falcons have the ability on Tuesday night to erase last year's home loss in the NACC Tournament semifinals. They entered as the second-seed and winners of eight of their last 10 matches, but Edgewood controlled the match from start to finish during a 3-1 win. CUW was very young last season and hit just .082 in the defeat that ended its season.

Continuing the recent success over Benedictine: The Falcons have won their last two meetings against the Eagles, including this season's 3-1 victory on October 16. The victory wasn't indicative of the final score, as three of the sets ended with a team scoring at least 23 points. Neither team played particularly well, but CUW did just enough to its third NACC match in a row at the time.