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PENSACOLA, Fla. - The dynasty continues – Concordia University, St. Paul (33-4) claimed its NCAA record-tying sixth consecutive Division II Volleyball Championship on Saturday night, defeating #7 University of Tampa (31-5) in an epic five-set thriller (27-29, 17-25, 25-23, 25-23, 16-14) on the campus of the University of West Florida.

Concordia ties the NCAA record (all divisions) in the sport of volleyball for consecutive National Championships, joining Washington-St. Louis (1991-96) at the Division III level. Concordia's six total titles stand alone at the Division II level.

After dropping the first two sets and rallying to tie the match to send it into a deciding fifth, the Spartans had championship point on the Golden Bears at 14-13 after a 3-point rally when Concordia led 13-11. Concordia answered back with a 3-point rally of its own to win the match 16-14.

The 0-2 comeback win for Concordia was the first in Division II championship history and only the sixth time in 32 years of NCAA volleyball championships across all Divisions. Most recently, the University of St. Thomas at the Division III level became the second Division III team in 2012 to accomplish this (joining UC-San Diego, 1997) and it's happened three times at the Division I level (Hawaii, 1981; UCLA, 1991; Penn State, 2009).
 
The win improves Concordia's NCAA Tournament win streak to 36 consecutive matches, as its all-time NCAA Tournament record improves to 44-4 in 10 appearances. Concordia is now 6-1 in seven trips to the National Championship, all under the direction of head coach Brady Starkey.  Concordia has played in seven championship matches under Starkey in his 10 years at the helm of the program.
 
"We have great kids that give you everything they've got," Starkey said after the match. "It's a privilege, to be a part of something so amazing, to be honest I can't even fathom. We don't look in terms of wins and losses, we look at the type of kids they are and how hard they work every day. I'd just like to be able to show people how hard they work every day."
 
Concordia has defeated Tampa twice in the NCAA Championship match in the last three years, also doing so in 2010 in four sets in Louisville, Ky. It's the third-straight year that Concordia has eliminated Tampa at the national tournament, winning in three sets last year in the National Semifinals in San Bernardino, Calif.


 
Tampa started the mach with a 4-1 lead and didn't give it up until late in the frame. Concordia used a 7-to-4 run to tie the score at 8-8, but the Spartans jumped back in front and held onto the lead until the Bears tallied four unanswered points midway through the set for a 19-17 lead.
 
Concordia held set point four times, which led to a 27-26 lead, but Tampa replied with the final three points for a 29-27 victory. The Spartans out hit the Bears .413-to-.277 in set one, led by Division II Player of the Year, Danielle Selkridge, with seven kills.
 
Tampa rolled its momentum into the second set with an early 5-1 lead. The Golden Bears would tie the score at 13-13 on a kill by Ashley Murtha (Apple Valley, Minn.), but the Spartans rallied for seven unanswered points for a 20-13 advantage en route to a 25-17 win.
 
Selkridge tallied another seven kills in the second and didn't commit an error, leading the way to a team .486 attack rate.
 
After dropping the first two sets of the match, Starkey commented on what he told the team in between the second and third sets: "We've got 'em right where we want 'em. This is you guys all the way. Nothing will feel better than coming back from down 0-2 and to win in five. And in the huddle, I never looked at them and saw that they weren't defeated, they were all like 'we're good!' and they were..."
 
Starkey's squad used that motivation and opened the third set with a 6-2 lead, forcing a Tampa timeout. The Spartans would tie the score twice at 8-8 and 15-15 before taking a 16-15 lead, their first of the set. There would be six more ties leading to a 23-23 score before CU rallied for the last two points on kills from Ellie Duffy (Fridley, Minn.) and Cassie Haag (Plymouth, Minn.).
 
The Concordia defense slowed down the Tampa attack by over 20% from set two to three. Haag paced the CU offense in the third, hitting 7-for-9 without an error.
 
Tampa took the first point of the fourth and held onto the lead for the first 21 rallies at 11-10. The Bears would tie the score four times, resulting in a 21-21 score before taking a 22-21 advantage. The Spartans took the next two points to lead 23-22, but the Bears once again rallied at the end of the set with three straight points to take the game 25-23.
 
It would be only fitting in the match that the winner would need more than 15 points to take the deciding set. Concordia started the frame with a 5-3 lead, but Tampa answered with four consecutive points to force a CU timeout. The Bears fought back and eventually took an 11-9 lead, where Tampa took its first timeout of the set. The Spartans came out of the break and went on a 5-to-2 run to hold set point at 14-13.
 
Not to be denied of their sixth-straight national title, Duffy made a kill to tie the score, Michelle Graham (Woodbury, Minn.) followed with a kill to take a 15-14 lead and Murtha sealed the victory with a kill on the left side, served from Kayla Koenecke (Delano, Minn.).
 
The epic five-set title match featured 33 scoring ties and 14 lead changes. There were five lead changes in the fifth set alone – the most of any set.
 
"Amazing. That's what you dream of," Haag commented of her final match wearing the Navy and Gold. "That's what you want -- 16-14, 25-23 -- that's volleyball. That's how it's designed to win. You have to win by two. It was insane and there's no one that I'd rather be out on that court with. You knew we were coming for it. I never had a doubt in my mind."
 
Tampa outhit the Bears in all five sets, but it wasn't enough to knock off the now six-time defending champions. After all was said and done, the Spartans hit .380 (81-13-179), while CU hit .310 (85-24-197). Tampa also out-blocked the Bears 11-to-1. 
 
The Golden Bears were led by senior Duffy with 23 kills. Koenecke also reached double figures, posting 20 kills and 15 digs for her 13th double-double of the season. Murtha led the defense with 18 digs.
 
Amanda Konetchy (Victoria, Minn.) produced 72 assists - the fifth highest total in a single match in school history.
 
Concordia's four All-Americans – Haag, Konetchy, Duffy and Koenecke were named to the All-Tournament Team.
 
Duffy commented on the strength of the program, "You come in and work hard and do what Brady and George tell you and good things are going to happen. I think he shies away from the credit, but they have a lot to do with how successful this program has been."

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