Box Score ST. PAUL, Minn. - Top-ranked Concordia-St. Paul (18-1, 10-0 NSIC) extended its winning streak to 15 matches with a 3-0 sweep over Sioux Falls (11-8, 3-7 NSIC) on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center. The victory sets up a showdown of the NSIC's only two remaining unbeaten teams in conference play tomorrow as #6 Southwest Minnesota State (15-3, 10-0 NSIC) comes to Gangelhoff Center for a 4 p.m. match as Concordia hosts Dig Pink night for breast cancer awareness.
Senior right side
Kayla Koenecke and sophomore outside hitter
Emily McDonough each tallied 13 kills while hitting at a high rate. Koenecke hit .391 (13-4-23) while McDonough was nearly identical with one less error in the same number of swings for a .435 night.
Koenecke also registered her 11th double-double on the year by producing 12 digs while also adding four assists and a pair of blocks for a match-high 14.0 point evening. McDonough also joined the double-double club tonight, her seventh of the year with 10 digs.
Concordia took the first set with little trouble as there were no ties or lead changes after the Golden Bears jumped out to a 5-0 lead behind senior setter
Amanda Konetchy's serve. Konetchy doled out 40 assists on 47 team kills while Concordia hit .242 on the night. She also had six digs and three blocks.
After the fast start in the first set, Sioux Falls was able to keep the margin between three and six points for match of the set, even pulling within two points of Concordia twice at 12-10 and 13-11 before Concordia pulled out an eight point first set win (25-17).
The second set was slightly more closesly contested as Sioux Falls grabbed the early lead off the first serve. But Concordia took the next two points and never relinquished the lead, opening up a 10-4 margin before holding at least a four point edge for the rest of the set which turned into a 25-16 win for the 2-0 lead.
The Cougars continued to push the Golden Bears in the third set, building an even larger lead, 4-0, immediately and extended it to 10-4. Six straight points on
Erienne Lauersdorf's serve tied the set and Concordia would rally to take a 14-13 lead as the announced crowd of 480 fans applauded.
The match was still tight as USF reclaimed leads twice down the stretch at 17-16 and again at 19-17.
From there, Koenecke took the serve as the Golden Bears took seven straight points with a combination of solid hitting, solid blocking at the net and forcing USF miscues. Concordia would take the final set by a five point margin despite nine ties and five lead changes in the decider.
Concordia's defense held USF to .107 hitting led by sophomore libero
Taylor Dordan's 15 digs while the blockers at the net tallied eight blocks led by sophomore
Heather Schiller's four, while freshman
Riley Hanson had three blocks (two solo).
Sioux Falls was led by Kate Hart with 10 kills, five digs and three blocks while Andrea Odbert had 12 digs to lead the defense and Samantha Lovell had six blocks (one solo).
