st. Paul, minn. - the concordia volleyball team downed augustana college 3-0 in an nsic duel on friday night at the gangelhoff center, 25-18, 25-8, 25-16. The golden bears (26-0, 15-0 nsic) walked away with the season sweep of the vikings (11-15, 6-8 nsic) in the 57 minute match. The night was also dig for the cure night, raising money and awareness for breast cancer research. A special thanks to all of those who pledged money for digs in the match. box score
concordia's main weapon in the match was their serving. With top spin and floaters mixed together, the team racked up nine ace serves against the vikings. They threw off the passing game for augustana to help keep the augie offense out of system. Senior libero mary slinger (faribault, minn.) was the most dangerous from behind the serving line, putting up five aces on the evening.
the concordia offense put up 44 kills on the evening with a .395 hitting average. Middle hitter emily palkert (jr., excelsior, minn.) had a team high 12 kills in 17 attempts. She also had five blocks, one solo and four assisted. From the outside hitting position, sophomore megan carlson (andover, minn.) put down 10 kills with just one error. She also had six digs, two aces and two blocks.
the golden bears were dominant throughout the entire match. They built a hearty 17-5 first set lead with krista erickson (jr., andover, minn.) at the line, extending the lead to 24-11 before augustana mounted a slight comeback. The vikings looked to chantel tengwall for a number of kills and used concordia errors to string together seven points before palkert ended the set with a kill.
the offensive might of the golden bears was unquestionable in the second set, where the team put up 14 kills with only one hitting error for a .565 attacking average in the 25-8 win. Palkert had six kills in seven attempts.
the golden bear defense was led by senior sadie kessler (st. Michael, minn.) with nine digs. Kessler also had eight kills and five blocks (1s, 4a). The squad combined for nine total blocks on the evening, which helped keep the vikings to just a .115 hitting average.
the team continues nsic play tomorrow night with a much-anticipated meeting with #15 wayne state college. The action gets rolling at 5:00 pm.
