#3 concordia-st. Paul (10-0, 1-0 nsic) opened up northern sun play with a convincing sweep in three games over upper iowa university (2-5, 0-1 nsic), 30-10, 30-16, 30-26 on friday evening at the gangelhoff center.
the win for the golden bears extends a pair of streaks, first their winning streak to ten to start the season. The second streak dates back to october 31, 2003, a span of 65 matches in which concordia has defeated a northern sun opponent. The streak includes all matches against nsic teams, including nsic and ncaa tournament play.
the last nsic team to defeat the bears is no longer in the league, minnesota duluth, a 3-1 decision on october 31, 2003 at the gangelhoff center. Umd is now a member of the north central conference (ncc) but will rejoin thensic next season.
the bears were led in the match by
sadie kessler, who pounded 15 kills and hit .393 (15-4-28). She also had two assists, two aces, four digs and two blocks in a solid all-around effort.
junior
maria steinhagen returned to the floor with a vengeance, recording kills in seven of her first eight attacks without an error. She would finish with 11 kills, hitting .389 to go with three blocks, one solo.
sophomore libero
mary slinger continues to amaze on defense, racking up 22 digs in the three game match. She also had two aces and an assist for the bears.
whitney meierotto contributed 15 digs of her own while piling up four service aces and a run of nine consecutive points on her serve during the second game. She also had five kills.
sophomore setter
maggie mcnamara set a concordia attack that finished with a .295 pct. (47-16-105) for the match. She had 40 assists and five digs and led the team to a .429 pct. (13-4-21) in the first game.
upper iowa, meanwhile, hit just .055 (26-20-110) for the match and were held to a -.120 (5-8-25) in the first game. The peacocks finished strong, however, with 12 kills and five errors in the third game.
they were led by darcy hageman who had nine kills and eight digs with three blocks.
the bears look to continue their streaks tomorrow afternoon when they host winona state at 3:00.
box score - csp 3, upper iowa 0
