bismark, n. D. - the #6 concordia golden bears are off to a 2-0 start in the nsic as they were able to sweep the university of mary marauders 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-19). Cu (7-3, 2-0) now has won 54 straight regular season matches in the nsic. kayla koenecke led the golden bears with 12 kills. emily palkert added ten kills and five block assists.

megan carlson had eight kills and 11 digs in the match. Two other cu players had seven kills; kara pioske and cassie haag. taylor fieldsted added ten digs to help the cu defense. amanda konetchy had 34 assists and six digs.

the golden bears and mary played a close first set. Cu did take a 11-7 lead which was their first breathing room all game. Concordia extended the lead to 23-15 as they prepared to close out set one. Mary cut the lead to 23-20 to force a cu timeout. Mary scored on the next play but that was the last point they were able to get and concordia won set one 25-21.

concordia had a little bit easier of a time in the second set. The set was again close midway through the set, but six straight points by cu gave themselves a 16-8 lead. Concordia extended it to 23-13 and won set two 25-14.

the break between the second and third sets did not stop the golden bear momentum as they jumped out to an early 9-4 lead in the third set to force a mary timeout. The timeout did not stop the golden bears and they took a 19-10 lead late into the set. Concordia kept the pressure on and won set three by a score of 25-19.

cu does not have much time off as they will travel to mankato, tuesday night, to take on minnesota state at 7 p.m. Minnesota state is currently ranked 14 in the avca poll.