The third-ranked golden bears (17-2, 8-0 nsic) continued a pair of streaks as they swept the university of mary (nd) (6-11, 3-5 nsic) 30-24, 30-14, 30-16 on friday evening at the gangelhoff center. The bears pushed the eighth-longest conference winning streak in ncaa d-ii history to 49 matches with their eighth consecutive sweep in northern sun matches this season.

seniors kelsey kyro (left)and jessica lucia (right)led the golden bear attack with 16 and 15 kills, respectively. Lucia's .565 attack pct. Came on 23 attempts with just two errors while kyro hit .424 with two errors in 33 attacks. Lucia also added nine digs, four assists and a pair of service aces.

the defensive leader was senior ashley olson (left) who recorded 12 digs while also posting seven kills. Senior megan graham was one of three golden bears with nine digs joined by lucia and freshman maggie mcnamara, who also had 49 assists, two aces and a block as she led a team attack that hit .368 with just 13 errors in 125 total attacks.

junior monica mcnamara smashed 11 kills while sophomore maria steinhagen (right) pitched in eight.

the marauders came out aggressive in the first game as they were toe-to-toe with cu for a majority of the game. The bears turned it on late, however as they finished the opening game strong to earn a 30-24 victory. U-mary hit .385 in the opening game while the bears hit an even more impressive .429 with 20 kills.

but the bears clamped down defensively the rest of the way, holding u-mary to .000 and .043 attack percentages in the second and third games, respectively while hitting .350 and .340 on the offensive side.

the bears look to continue their hot nsic play tomorrow afternoon when they play host to northern state at 3:00 p.m.