st. Paul, minn. - the table has been set for the most anticipated matchup of the year in division ii volleyball, a championship tournament rematch between concordia university (35-0) and cal state san bernardino (33-1). The golden bears snatched up a 3-0 win over #9 indianapolis (38-2) in front of a raucous crowd of 1,269 in the quarterfinal round of the 2009 ncaa championships on thursday evening. They will now have to defend their 72-match win streak against the team that last beat them, cal state san bernardino. The golden bears avenged the 2008 season-opening loss to the coyotes in a 5-set thriller that gave cu the 2008 national championship trophy. The semifinal match will be served up friday evening at 7:30 pm at the gangelhoff center in st. Paul. box score
"we are excited to play them (csusb) again," junior emily palkert noted of the rematch against cal state san bernardino. "they gave us a run for the money last year and we're looking forward to tomorrow's match."
concordia set the tone for the matchup with the greyhounds of uindy in the first two points, as megan carlson (oh, so., andover, minn.) shoved indy's first attack attempt back with a solo block, then combined with cassie haag (mb, fr., plymouth, minn.) to roof the greyhounds' second attack for a 2-0 lead. Uindy was caught on their heels against a concordia offense that hit .516 in the first set.
junior middle hitter emily palkert (excelsior, minn.) had her offensive game smoking in opening appearance of the elite eight. She had six kills in seven attempts in the first set and went on to lead the squad with 13 kills on the night. Fed by the 2009 division ii player of the year, cu setter maggie mcnamara (sr., zumbrota, minn.), palkert had her best offensive match in a month, finishing with a .478 average. The two-time all-american is cu's leading hitter this season.
the golden bears took another 25-17 win in the second set of the match, cooling to a .316 hitting average but letting their defense pick them up. Cu allowed uindy just nine kills in the set and they added another five blocks to their match total.
the greyhounds composed themselves between sets and came back to the court for the final set rejuvinated and ready to challenge cu. Freshman middle kristina kerrigan gave her team seven kills in the set, while all-american libero kyleigh turner did a wonderful job reading cu hitters and keeping her team in system as often as possible.
the golden bears used an arsenal of weapons to distance themselves from a knotted 21-21 score. Haag reached high to terminate the go-ahead kill, followed by a decisive swing from palkert and two no-doubters from senior sadie kessler (rs, st. Michael, minn.) to close out a 4-1 finish for the win. Following protocol on set point, mcnamara fed kessler until she found the court and sent the crowd into applause.
the golden bears had 56 kills and a .375 hitting average with nine blocks in the game. All-star libero mary slinger (sr., faribault, minn.) led the team with 23 digs and a service ace. The offense was paced by palkert's 13 kills, followed by a 12-kill, 12-dig, 5-block performance by carlson. Haag also added 12 kills, while kessler had 10. Mcnamara had assists on 51 of the team's 56 kills.
the greyhounds finished the match with 37 kills and a .189 average. They were able to pick up 47 digs. Kerrigan was the only player to finish in double figures for kills, topping the list at 13.
