aberdeen, s. D. - the golden bears got off on the right track to begin their 2010 nsic season beating the northern state wolves 3-1 (25-15, 24-26, 25-15, 25-18). Cu was led by emily palkert, who became just the second player in cu history to have over 1,500 kills and 400 blocks in a career with her 18 kill, nine block game. Concordia also got double digit kills from cassie haag and megan carlson, who had 15 and 11 kills respectively.
amanda konetchy set up the cu offense all night having 51 assists along with eight digs. Carlson set a career high with 27 digs in the match to lead the cu defense. taylor fieldsted was second on the team with 12 digs.
the first set was a battle at the start as neither team could find much offense, both hit under .300 until mid way through the set. Cu jumped out to the first substantial lead at 14-9, forcing a nsu timeout. Concordia extended their lead to 17-10 following the timeout. Back to back kills by palkert forced another northern timeout with cu leading 19-12. The timeout did not work as concordia extended the lead to 21-12. The golden bears took set one by a score of 25-15.
northern state was able to jump out early in set two behind some good defense and lead 7-3. Concordia cut the lead to one at 9-8 but nsu was able to rebound, extending their lead to 13-8. With nsu holding a 20-16 lead, cu fought back to tie the match at 20-20 and took their first lead of the set 21-20. Cu had match point at 24-21 but nsu forced a timeout out after two straight points. The timeout did not stop the nsu momentum and they won set two 26-24.
concordia seemed determined to take set three as the golden bears were able to get ahead early and were up 15-8 midway through the set. The golden bears led at 21-12 before the wolves rattled off three straight points. Cu did not let nsu back in the set and scored four straight points to win set three 25-15.
the golden bears got out to an early lead in set four at 8-2. Cu kept the lead at 15-9 and forced a northern state timeout. Concordia once again had trouble closing out the wolves, after being up 24-15, cu allowed three straight points, but the golden bears did win the set 25-18.
concordia will be back in action saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. When they take on the university of mary. You can follow the game at the following link - live video - stats.
