The separation between the third-ranked concordia-st. Paul (11-1) and fourth-ranked minnesota duluth (12-1) volleyball teams was minimal in a five game thriller played at the gangelhoff center in st. Paul, minn. On tuesday evening. Umd defeated concordia-st. Paul 20-30, 37-35, 30-20, 30-32, 15-12.

the two regional rivals played one of their best matches in series history and the first five game match since nov. 9, 2004, a span of seven matches.

concordia came out strong, winning the first game 30-20 and seemingly in control, holding umd to a .000 hitting pct. (11-11-42) while hitting .257 (15-6-35) on offense.

in the second game with the bears trailing 12-10, the bulldogs used an 8-3 spurt to take a commanding 20-13 lead. Concordia rallied for the next three points, cutting the deficit to five. The teams traded jabs until umd led 28-22.

then the bears rallied back, jumping in front 30-29 on a kill by maria steinhagen. It was one of steinhagen's team-high 17 kills in the match. She recorded a double-double with a match-high 10 blocks (two solo).

however, the bears were unable to close out the bulldogs on five game points in the second game and umd was able to pull ahead for a 37-35 game two victory.

umd carried that momentum all the way through the third game, icing the bears to a 30-20 defeat to take a 2-1 lead in the match. In the third game, concordia was held to a -.024 (9-10-42) while umd attacked at a .244 (17-6-45) clip.

game four was another close battle. Neither team led by more than a point until the bears grabbed a 12-9 lead off of whitney meierotto's ace to force a minnesota duluth timeout.

out of the timeout, the bulldogs tied the score at 12 and neither team led by more than two once again until a kate bennett kill put concordia ahead 21-18. Bennett, who didn't play the first two games, finished strong with six kills and four digs in the final three games.

umd finally reclaimed the lead in the fourth game, going up 25-24 on meierotto's attack error.

but concordia regained the upper hand, this time taking the game on the second game point for a 32-30 fourth game victory.

in the deciding fifth game, the bulldogs jumped out to a 6-4 lead. But concordia beat umd to the midway point of the game for an 8-7 lead when steinhagen put down a kill.

in a 12-12 tie, bennett misfired for an error giving umd the lead. On the following play, umd's kari wolford delivered a kill to put the bulldogs at match point, 14-12. maggie mcnamara was blocked by katie gangelhoff in a battle of setters at the net to give minnesota duluth the victory.

each setter recorded 62 assists for their teams and each had a double-double. Mcnamara's 22 digs gave her a 20-20 performance and she added four blocks.

she distributed her sets around the court, with four players reaching double-figures in kills. After steinhagen, emily palkert finished with 16 kills hitting .273.

meierotto faced her old squad for the first time since transferring from umd. She had a nice outing with a double-double, posting 15 kills, 14 digs, four aces and two blocks.

sadie kessler was the fourth bear to reach double-digit kills with 13 while also recording five assists, four digs and a pair of blocks.

the golden bear defense out-dug the bulldogs 98-88 and were led by mary slinger's 29. krista erickson also registered 14 digs as four players had at least 14 digs for concordia.

the bears and bulldogs were aggressive at the net, with umd edging out csp 14-13 in blocks. The bulldogs were led by lindsey clairmont's eight (one solo).

vicky braegelmann posted a match-high 20 kills while crystal hoffrogge had a team-best 27 digs.

it was the first loss of the season for the golden bears, who started the year on an 11 game win streak.

they return to action this weekend when they travel to take on bemidji state and minnesota, crookston on friday, september 14 and saturday, september 15.

box score - minnesota duluth 3, csp 2