st. Paul, minn. - mary slinger recorded 21 digs to help the golden bear volleyball team to a 3-0 win (25-18, 25-16, 25-10) over winona state (4-10, 2-1 nsic) on saturday afternoon. #1-ranked concordia increases their season win streak to 14-0 and is now 3-0 in the nsic. They host #10 southwest minnesota state on tuesday evening at 7:00 pm. box score
although the golden bears walked away with their seventh straight 3-0 win, there were moments that had head coach brady starkey up in arms. The golden bears, who rank fifth in the nation for hitting percentage, put up one of their lowest hitting averages of the season against the warriors, finishing with a mark of .291.
the second set was especially frustrating for the team with a .167 final mark. A 5-0 set-opening run was soon diminished to a slim 12-10 lead. The team's passing and defense affected how efficient the offense could run and tensions ran high for a time. The squad improved their performance and took advantage of poor warrior hitting to run away with 10 of the final 14 points and a 25-16 win.
concordia fared this way for much of the match against winona, putting down some powerful kills with no question of what the result would be while also struggling with control at times. Serving was a bright spot for the golden bears, who tagged warrior passers for six aces, including three from megan carlson.
the golden bears had just one player finish in double figures for kills, junior emily palkert with 13. Palkert also had a team high three blocks (1s, 2a). cassie haag followed with nine kills and carlson came away with seven. The defensive push was led by slinger's 21 digs, while carlson and sadie kessler added 14 each. maggie mcnamara had 40 assists, seven digs, two ace serves and two blocks.
the warriors were unable to use concordia's struggles to their advantage, swinging for just a .096 average with 26 kills in the loss. They came up with some clutch digs, however, totaling 42 overall. Shannon mcgowan led her team with 18 digs. Carmen stankowski guided the warrior offense with seven kills.
