bismarck, n.d. - the golden bear volleyball team (25-0, 14-0 nsic) finished off the university of mary (7-18, 1-13 nsic) in three quick sets on saturday afternoon, winning by scores of 25-11, 25-5, 25-15. Emily palkert reached for 17 kills with a .636 hitting average and had three blocks to lead the team to the win. The team hit .554 on the night to u-mary's .100. box score

palkert (jr., excelsior, minn.) fired away at the marauders from the onset of the match, putting down six kills in the first set. The golden bears put down kills for 18 of their 25 points in the set.

the game's momentum swung even further in concordia's favor in the second set when they pulled out a 25-5 win, matching the fewest points allowed by the golden bears in program history. The team had 17 kills and did not make a hitting error in the set win. Palkert added another seven kills, while sadie kessler (sr., st. Michael, minn.)came alive from the rightside with six kills.

palkert and kessler were the leading hitters overall in the match, palkert tabbing her 17 kills and kessler coming in with 13, going without an error for a .812 hitting average. The marauder offense managed only 21 kills in the match and put up a .100 average. They did not have a player finish in double figures for kills.

defensively, the marauders came up with only 12 digs as a team in the match. Concordia had 29 team digs, led by libero mary slinger (sr., faribault, minn.) with eight. The golden bears had eight blocks in the match. Kara pioske (fr., waconia, minn.) saw playing time on the outside and came up with eight kills, no errors and three blocks.

the golden bears return to play at the gangelhoff center next weekend, hosting augustana college and wayne state.