ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia University volleyball team (16-3, 9-2 NSI C) stayed undefeated at home with a four-set win over Winona State (13-4, 8-3 NSIC) on Tuesday night. The Golden Bears are now 5-0 at the Gangelhoff Center in NSIC play and 9-0 overall.
 
The Concordia offense had a bit of an up-and-down night as they hit an incredible .500 in the first set and .469 in the fourth set and a much more pedestrian .176 in the second set and .135 in the fourth set to finish with a .282 hitting percentage overall. Their defense was dominant as usual as they limited the Warriors to just a .119 hitting percentage while collected an impressive 13.0 total blocks.
 
Mariya Sampson and Anna Schlaak did much of the heavy lifting on the attack with 16 kills each while Riley Hanson also finished in double figures with 11 kills. Sampson matched her career high with the 16 kills as she also chipped in four digs and four blocks. Schlaak was also active on the defensive end as she had a match-high 19 digs to pick up the double-double along with two blocks.
 
Heather Schiller once again asserted her presence with nine kills, eight digs and eight blocks in a very impressive all-around match and Kasey Williams fell three digs short of a double-double with 48 assists and seven digs. Lisa Atkinson and Taylor Dordan also added 14 and 12 digs, respectively.
 
Kylea Roeglin was very efficient for the Warriors as she collected 10 kills with a .500 hitting percentage to pace WSU. Taylor Goar also had 10 kills and McKenna Larsen has 37 assists and nine digs in the loss.
 
Concordia was crisp from the start of the match as they scored five of the first six points and nine of the first 12 to build a large advantage. The lead grew to double digits at 18-8 and continued to grow as the Golden Bears cruised to a 25-12 set win in the first.
 
The Golden Bears picked up where they left off by building a 7-3 lead but slowly saw that lead disappear. The Warriors cut it to one at 9-8 and again at 10-9 but CU pushed the lead back out to 13-9 with three points in a row. Winona State finally pulled even at 20 and remained down just one at 24-23 before Hanson and Sampson block put Concordia up 2-0 heading into the break with a 25-23 set win.
 
The Warriors were not done yet as they ran out to an 8-0 lead in the third set and didn't look back. CU rebounded with a 4-1 run but they wouldn't get any closer as Winona State closed in on their first set win against the Golden Bears since 2011. The lead reached eight again at 16-8 and WSU endured a late Concordia run to extend the match with a 25-20 set win.
 
Concordia will look to extend their winning streak at the Gangelhoff Center this weekend as they play host to two ranked opponents in #16 Augustana and #13 Wayne State.
 
The fourth set swung back in the Golden Bears favor as they quickly established a comfortable lead at 8-3. The CU advantage didn't shrink below four the rest of the way as they eventually pushed it to 11 at 20-9, matching their largest lead of the set. Concordia eventually closed out the set and the match by that margin at 25-14.