No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul (31-2) defeated Minnesota State University Moorhead in four games, 29-31, 32-30, 30-20, 30-24 in the first round of the NCAA North Central Regional Tournament at the Gangelhoff Center.

The Bears used a balanced attack as four players had double-digit kills. Jessica Lucia led the attack as she recorded the only CSP double-double with 15 kills and 16 digs. Joy Wubben and Valerie Olson each contributed 14 kills while Tia Lindberg added ten to round out the attack. Megan Graham led the defensive effort with 17 digs. Three Golden Bears had five blocks, Kelsey Kyro, Wubben and Lindberg. Cailin Terhaar had 59 set assists and also had eight digs and three blocks.

Sigourney Schaffer was the shining star on the MSU Moorhead side of the net, recording a match-high 19 kills in the contest to go with a .333 hitting percentage. Jesseca White and Julie Vancura each picked up double-doubles for the Dragons as white had 13 kills and 11 digs while Vancura posted 51 set assists and 14 digs. Chrissy Jacobs netted a match-high six total blocks for MSUM.

CSP held the edge in digs, 72-58 and outblocked the Dragons 13-9 in a defensive battle. The Dragon defense held Concordia-St. Paul to a .173 hitting percentage but the Golden Bheld the advantage as the Dragons hit just .132.

Concordia-St. Paul advances to the semifinals where they will take on the third-seeded South Dakota Coyotes at 8:30 p.m. at home at the Gangelhoff Center.