ST. PAUL, Minn. – The #3 Concordia University volleyball team (17-3, 10-2 NSIC) picked up a big conference win with a sweep of #20 Augustana (S.D.) (14-6, 7-5 NSIC) on Friday night at the Gangelhoff Center.
The Golden Bears put together one of their most impressive performances offensively on the season with a .415 hitting percentage and just 12 errors in the win. It was a group effort with all five hitters hitting over .300 on the match.
Anna Schlaak paced the attack with 15 kills along with eight digs while
Mariya Sampson and
Riley Hanson each finished with double digit kills with 12 and 11, respectively.
Kasey Williams was dominant as she guided the Golden Bears with 51 assists and 12 digs to collect her ninth double-double on the season.
Lisa Atkinson also finished in double figures with 12 digs.
Augustana also had a decent night offensively with a .243 hitting percentage as a team. Courtney Ysker had a team-high 11 kills while Ashley Wilson added 10 kills.
Concordia looked to be headed for a route in the first set as they scored the first six points of the set. The Vikings showed some resilience by erasing the deficit and taking a lead of their own at 11-10. The two teams were locked up in an even match with neither team building a lead larger than two until the deciding point. All in all, there were 14 ties and four lead changes in the set with Augie holding their last lead at 23-22. It took two set points for the Golden Bears to finally close it out at 26-24.
The Vikings seemed poised to even the match at one in as they built a 16-9 lead in the second set. Concordia responded with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to one before gaining the lead at 20-19. The Golden Bears eventually pulled away by grabbing the final three points to turn a 22-22 tie into a 25-22 set win to head into the break with a 2-0 advantage.
The Golden Bears came out of the break determined to close it out in three as they built an early eight point lead at 12-4. Augie shrunk the deficit to four multiple times in the set but couldn't get over the hump as CU pulled away and took the set 25-14.
Concordia closes out the big weekend series tomorrow with a 4 p.m. match against #12 Wayne State. The two teams entered the night in a tie for second place in the NSIC with Southwest Minnesota State at 9-2.
