The second-ranked minn.-duluth bulldogs (24-1, 9-0 ncc) survived a marathon five-game 19-30, 34-36, 30-22, 30-20, 14-16 match against concordia university (27-3, 15-1 nsic) in duluth despite freshman emily palkert's school-record 34 kills. The loss ends concordia's season-long 13 match win streak.

palkert finished the night with 34 kills, against ten errors in 64 attempts for a .375 hitting percentage. Her 34 kills was the sixth-most in ncaa dii this season. It also breaks assistant coach amanda horazdovksy's six year school-record of 33 (northwestern college, 2001).

the bears started slow, dropping the first game 30-19, hitting only .093 with 14 kills and ten errors. They rebounded in game two, but still fell in a hard-fought 34-36 game, despite having three game points.

after a ten minute intermission, concordia came out strong taking game three 30-22 and game four 30-20. The fifth-game would be tightly contested as no team held more than a two point advantage. With the score tied 14-14, umd took the final two points and the match.

junior whitney meierotto had an impressive night against her former team with 16 kills and a team-high 27 digs. She would be the only other bear to record double-digit kills with palkert.

the bears defense was strong with 100 digs, compared to 88 for the bulldogs. Sophomore mary slinger finished with 26 digs, while freshman krista erickson had 21.

the bears also had 13 blocks, led by palkert with seven (4 solo, three assisted) and junior maria steinhagen's five (three solo, two assisted). Umd would finish the night with seven team blocks.

sophomore maggie mcnamara had 67 assists on the night as concordia hit .225 with 80 kills, 30 errors in 222 attempts.minn. Duluth recorded 78 kills, against 38 errors in 238 attempts. They were led by kari wollford with 18 kills, while vicky braegelmann and danielle becktrand each had 16.

the bears will try to clinch their fifth nsic title outright on friday, nov. 2, when northern state visits the gangelhoff center at 7:00.

box score - minn. Duluth 3, csp 2