The fourth-ranked golden bears (24-2, 13-1 nsic) rallied from a one-game deficit to defeat seventh-ranked southwest minnesota state (19-5, 10-2 nsic) in marshall 25-30, 32-30, 30-25, 30-27. With the win, the bears move into the top spot in the nsic with four games to play in the regular-season.

sophomore all-american maggie mcnamara led the bears with 67 assists (16.75 apg) as she continues to lead the ncaa dii in assists per game. She added a career-high six block (2 solo, 4 assisted), to go along with seven digs and two kills.

freshman emily palkert led the bears with 21 kills in 52 attempts with nine errors to hit .231. She would also have three block assists. But it was junior maria steinhagen's 19 kills and .400 hitting percentage (5 errors in 35 attempts), along with nine blocks (2 solo, 7 assisted) that the bears needed in the win.

senior kate bennett had 11 kills as the only other bear in double-digits in kills, while junior whitney meierotto had nine kills and ten digs. Mary slinger again led concordia in the dig category with 26.

smsu's all-american erin contons led the mustangs with 16 kills, but the bears were able to hold her to a .094 hitting percentage with 11 errors in 53 attempts.

as a team, the bears had 71 kills compared to 60 for the mustangs. Concordia hit .176 (37 error, 193 attempts) while smsu was held to .156 with 32 errors in 180 attempts.

the mustangs had 73 digs compared to 66 for the bears, marking only the second time all season a team has had more digs than concordia, with smsu doing it both times.

the bears will travel to wayne state on saturday for a 5:00 nsic match.

box score - csp 3, sw mn state 1