The top-ranked Golden Bears took on a pair of top-five teams in the championship bracket of the Metro/Regis Premier Challenge Saturday afternoon and came away with a third-place finish following a split. In the first game, #1 Concordia University lost in three games to #2 UC San Diego but rebounded to defeat #4 North Alabama in four.

In a showdown of the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the country, both undefeated, UCSD prevailed handily, 30-20, 30-15, 33-31, as the bears suffered their first loss of the 2004 season. Joy Wubben's 11 kills and .360 hitting percentage once again led the attack for the Bears, as she was the only bear to reach double-digit kills in the match. Sophomore libero Megan Graham was the only CSP player to reach double-digit digs, as she led the squad with 16.

The defeat pitted the Bears against defending national champions North Alabama in the third-place game, whom the Bears lost to in last year's title game. The results would be different this time around, as the Bears recovered from their loss, defeating UNA 30-24, 30-25, 25-30, 30-27 to take third in the tournament.

Wubben and junior Valerie Olson led the Bears with 19 and 12 kills, respectively, while junior setter Cailin Terhaar served up 46 set assists. Three Bears had double figures in digs. Sophomore Jessica Lucia had 11, and liberos Graham and Danielle Niehls each had ten.

Former NSIC, now NCC rival #17 Minnesota Duluth won the tournament with their victory over #2 UC San Diego in the tournament championship game. Seniors Joy Wubben and Tia Lindberg were each named to the All-Tournament Team for Concordia University.

the bears return to action september 10 and 11 in the nsic/ncc crossover where they will take on st. Cloud state, #16 augustana and #19 msu-mankato.