The fifth-ranked concordia golden bears (31-4) had five players in double-digits in kills in earning a 3-1 (30-25, 30-23, 27-30, 30-14) win over nsic foe wayne state (24-12) in the quarterfinals of the 2007 ncaa north central regional thursday in duluth, mn.

the bears posted 70 kills on the afternoon, with freshman emily palkert leading the bears with 16 kills and a .289 hitting percentage (five error in 38 attempts). Junior maria steinhagen finished with 15 kills, while fellow junior whitney meierotto posted her 22nd double-double of season with 14 kills and ten digs. Sophomore sadie kessler added 12 kills and senior kate bennett ten.

sophomore maggie mcnamara directed a concordia offense that hit .238 on the day as she had 63 assists. The bears finished with 70 kills, 26 errors in 185 attempts. Wayne state finished the afternoon with 49 kills in 180 attempts (.111) with 29 errors.

defensively the bears tallied 13 team blocks with palkert, steinhagen and kessler each finishing with five blocks. mary slinger had 35 digs on the afternoon, marking the fourth time this season she has posted more than 30 digs in a match.

as a team, the bears finished the night with 91 digs, compared to 74 for wayne state. Freshman rachel knutson had 16 digs, while freshman krista erickson had 14.

the bears started the match strong jumping out to a 11-3 lead and never allowing wayne state to get closer than 20-18, before extending the lead again to 26-19 and eventually winning game one 30-25. Meierotto led the bears in game one with five kills, while slinger had ten digs in game one.

game two was more back and forth between the two teams as neither team led by more than two points until concordia took a 21-17 lead late. With the score tied 22-22, the bears went on a 8-1 run to win 30-23. Palkert and steinhagen each had five kills in game two.

the third game followed the same tone as the second with neither team wanting to take control. Wayne state took the largest lead of the game at 14-12, but the bears answered back and neither team led by more than one point with 14 ties, until wayne state scored the final three points with the score tied 27-27. Steinhagen finished with eight kills in game three to lead the bears.

concordia took control of game four the beginning, leading 4-0 before the wildcats got on the board. They would allow wayne state to get no closer than 10-8 before extending the lead to 20-12 and eventually to 30-14. The bears hit .344 in game four with 13 kills and only two errors.

wayne state was led by jennifer hefner with 13 kills, while brittany van beek had 12 and emily schroeder had 11 kills and 13 digs. Laura dolezal finished with a team-high 26 digs.

the bears will face another familiar opponent from the nsic in the semifinals, when they play southwest minnesota state at 3:00 in duluth. Live stats will be available at: http://sports.umdbulldogs.com/volleyball/xlive.htm

box score - csp 3, wayne state 1