ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia University volleyball team (22-3, 15-2 NSIC) got their final regular season home weekend off to a strong start with a sweep of Minot State (9-17, 6-11 NSIC) on Friday night. The Golden Bears improve to a perfect 13-0 on their home court so far this season.
 
It was a quiet night offensively as the team needed just 43 kills to pick up the win. Concordia hit .287 as a team while the Beavers were held to just a .102 mark. Concordia collected six aces, led by Mariya Sampson's three, and 11.0 blocks, led by Emma Lange's six.
 
Riley Hanson put together yet another efficient night as she hit .476 on her way to a team-high 13 kills to go along with her five blocks. She was joined in double figures in kills by Anna Schlaak who chipped in 11 and fell just a dig short of a double-double.
 
Kasey Williams was all over the court with 32 assists on the team's 43 kills and a match-best 16 digs to pick up her 10^th double-double of the season.
 
Tarah Dabovich provided a spark for Minot State with 10 kills on just 18 attempts while Jen Dixon added eight kills and 11 digs. Cindy Pello also contributed 11 digs as well.
 
The Golden Bears took control early in the first set with a 5-0 run to make it 7-3 in their favor and they didn't trail the rest of the way. The lead hit five on multiple occasions before the Beavers cut it to one at 16-15. Concordia closed it out on a strong note with a 9-3 run to win the first set 25-18.
 
The second set remained close until nearly midway through with the score tied at 9-9. It was all Golden Bears from that point on as they collected the next six points and 11 of the next 12 to build a double digit lead. Minot State was unable to rebound as CU rolled to a 2-0 lead by taking the second set 25-13.
 
An early run in the third set gave the Golden Bears the decisive advantage as they used a 5-0 run to grab a 9-4 lead. CU wouldn't allow the Beavers to pull closer than three points as the reached seven a few times before pushing it to eight with a final score of 25-17.
 
Concordia is back in action tomorrow at 4 p.m. as U-Mary comes to the Gangelhoff Center for the final NSIC regular season match at the Gangelhoff Center this year. The Golden Bears follow that up with a highly-anticipated non-conference match at home on Tuesday with the Minnesota State Bulldogs coming to town.