mankato, minn. - junior ellie duffy (fridley, minn.) had 17 kills, one shy of her career high, as the golden bears (20-0, 11-0 nsic) swept minnesota state (11-7, 4-6 nsic) 25-20, 25-22, 25-17 on friday night. megan carlson (andover, minn.) had 10 kills and 19 digs for a double-double. kayla koenecke (delano, minn.) the nsic offensive player of the week had 12 kills and eight digs. amanda konetchy (victoria, minn.) had another great night having 45 assists an average of 15 per set. box score | watch live | live stats
taylor fieldsted (lakeville, minn.) had 10 digs which was second on the team. michelle graham (woodbury, minn.) had four kills and four blocks on the evening. Concordia had five aces on the night all by different golden bears. Cu out hit the mavericks .278 - .177 on the evening despite having just three less errors.
concordia trailed 7-3 early in the first set and trailed by as much as 10-3 before rallying. Six straight points, including three kills from duffy put cu back in it at 10-9. The mavericks had leads of three points a couple times midway through the set but cu stayed within striking distance before taking the lead at 18-17 for the first time all set. Cu scored four straight points to take that lead. Msu tied the match up at 18 and again at 19 all before cu took a lead for good and took the set 25-20.
the golden bears had to rally again in the second set falling behind 4-0 in large part due to three attack errors. Msu never had big lead in the second set but lead throughout the majority of the set. Concordia was within a point at various times in the set but trailed 21-17 late before calling a timeout. The timeout worked as cu rattled off seven straight points, four kills from duffy, to take a 24-21 lead, eventually winning the set 25-22.
in set three cu and msu batted back and forth in the early going with the set knotted at seven. The golden bears score five quick point to take a 12-7 lead and never looked back. Late in the set cu led 20-13 before taking the match by winning the set 25-17.
next up for cu is a match with #9 southwest minnesota state in marshall, minn. Tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m.
photos by justin oakman
