marshall, minn. €" it was a match that the golden bears of #2-ranked concordia university were looking forward to as a litmus test for the nsic season, a meeting with #8-ranked southwest minnesota state on tuesday evening. Concordia’s intense offense and feisty defense overwhelmed the mustangs (13-2, 2-1 nsic) and gave the golden bears (15-1, 4-0 nsic) their eighth win over a ranked opponent this season. The team notched 50 kills with a season high .467 average.

the anticipated match started with three points from blocks, setting the defensive tone of the night. The golden bears fought to cover their hittersshy; and opened up a 16-9 lead with back-to-back kills from ellie duffy. After a timeout to stop the swing, the mustangs came back with improved offense and passing and tightened the game to 18-17. emily palkert preserved the lead by pounding a ball into the middle of smsu’s court. The momentum was enough to push the golden bears to a 25-19 set 1 win. They hit .387 in the first game with five kills each from palkert and duffy.

it was a smooth start to the second set with the golden bears playing balls in system and finding holes all over the southwest side of the court. Concordia’s offense pounded balls while southwest struggled to get offensive options due to poor passing and defense. Cu led by as many as 15 points in what was a final 25-10 score. The score tied this season’s single set mark for largest win by the golden bears. They had 17 kills with a .593 hitting average.

the mustangs used the break to get back on track in what was expected to be a neck-and-neck battle. Tori brouwer let loose on a low set ball for a kill to maintain a marginal 11-9 smsu lead. Concordia’s palkert then unleashed a hot arm to give the golden bears four kills in a very fast 5-1 swing that put cu back on top, 14-12. Smsu’s top gun laura hegerle threw the team on her back, with assists and defense provided by setter sara graf. They drew to within a single point, 18-17, but could not regain the lead as concordia’s overpowering offense sent balls ricocheting all over the pe gymnasium.

over the course of the three games, the golden bear offense never stopped swinging, rolling or tipping for kills. For the second time this season, cu went over the 50 kill mark in a 3 set match. They upped their season best hitting average in tonight’s match to .467 with 50 kills and just eight errors. Southwest managed to dig up only 27 of the team’s 90 attack attempts.

palkert paced the team with 16 kills and a .433 average. She stymied the mustang offense with five blocks, one solo and four assisted. Duffy was second on the roster with 11 kills and just a single error for a .526 hitting average. She had two block assists and an ace serve. maggie mcnamara marked a double-double with 41 set assists and ten digs. mary slinger matched mcnamara with a team high ten digs. The squad had 41 digs and seven blocks.

southwest minnesota state hit .214 on the night with 33 kills, including a team high eight from hegerle. Graf assisted on 24 kills and sarah quiram led the team with nine digs.

concordia continues their first trip around nsic play this homecoming weekend, hosting minnesota, crookston on friday at 7:00 and msu moorhead on saturday at 5:00 pm.