st. Paul, minn. - the golden bear volleyball squad, ranked #1 in the nation all season, went into extra sets against an nsic opponent for the first time this season. Despite the slight blemish, concordia topped bemidji state 3-1 to improve to 20-0 on the year and 9-0 in league play. They return to action against #10 minnesota duluth tomorrow night in a white out event at the gangelhoff center. box score
the beavers of bemidji state have been playing especially strong volleyball of late, bringing minnesota duluth and wayne state to five sets last weekend and downing augustana college 3-2, as well.
the golden bears played a typical dominant style of play to go up two sets to none before the beavers managed to throw them off of their game. A first set .625 hitting average was put up by concordia while the beavers were held to 14 kills in the combined first two sets. The tide turned as bemidji state out-hit the golden bears in the third set, however.
nicole olson, bemidji's leading hitter in the match, got her team off to a strong 4-1 start. The golden bears played with an uncharacteristic lack of control, struggling to run their offense in system and allowing the beavers 14 kills in the third set. Bemidji led 15-10 before concordia made a slight comeback run, getting to within three points, but the beavers never relinquished the lead. They hit .200 in the set while the golden bears hit only .175 to take the 25-21 win.
this was the first set given up to an nsic opponent all season. The golden bears had won each of their prior 12 matches in three sets and had only gone to four sets two other times on the year, both times against ranked opponents.
the golden bears continued to struggle with their hitting in the fourth set, but they saw much better play from their passers and defenders to even things out. megan carlson delivered five kills in the final set to lead the offense, while mary slinger came up with eight digs.
emily palkert put up a new season high kills total for the golden bears by smashing the ball 21 times. She hit at a .500 clip, committing only four errors in the match. Carlson added 14 kills to concordia's total, followed by sadie kessler with 13 and cassie haag with 10. By holding the beavers to a low number of kills in the majority of the match, aside from the third set exception, the golden bears out-hit bsu 65 kills to 36. They had a .298 average, compared to .152 for their opponent.
another new season high total came from slinger on the defensive end. By snagging 31 digs in the match, slinger reached a concordia season high and hit the rare 30-dig threshold. maggie mcnamara also added 61 assists to her season total. She is now only 53 assists away from matching the cu all-time assists mark of 6,724, which ranks 5th all-time in the ncaa.
the beavers were led offensively by olson with 13 kills and laura slinger, mary's younger sister, with eight. Brie groskreutz had a team high 14 digs for bsu.
