Volleyball | 11.10.14
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The second-seeded #3 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (25-4) begins postseason play in search of their eighth consecutive NCAA Division II National Championship as they take on seventh-seeded Minnesota State (16-8) in NSIC / US Bank Tournament action. The match is set for Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the Gangelhoff Center.
The Golden Bears earned the second seed in the NSIC / US Bank Tournament after their NSIC regular season championship streak came to a close after winning it in 11 straight seasons. CU will look to continue their first round success as they have gone a perfect 6-0 in opening round games in their six tournament appearances. Concordia has gone 14-3 overall in the tournament as they have won three titles (2004, 2005 and 2006). Last season, the Golden Bears fell short of a fourth tournament championship as they dropped a five-set thriller to Minnesota Duluth.
Concordia will look to win the season series against the Mavericks as the two teams split the two regular season matches. MSU handed the Golden Bears their first conference loss on opening night before CU bounced back and swept Minnesota State on Oct. 28
th. The Golden Bears are 19-4 all-time against the Mavericks and have yet to drop a match to MSU in St. Paul, going 8-0 on their home court.
In their last meeting, Concordia delivered a solid effort as they committed just eight attack errors on the night while hitting .354 and held the Mavericks to a .168 hitting percentage for the match. In what has been a common theme this season, CU dominated in the blocks category with 9.0 compared to 2.0 for Minnesota State.
Anna Schlaak provided 15 of the Golden Bears' 42 kills with an impressive .412 hitting percentage along with eight digs.
Mariya Sampson was the only other Golden Bear in double figures in kills with 11 as she also hit an efficient .524.
Sydney Powell was a strong performer for the Mavericks as she matched Schlaak's total of 15 kills as no other MSU player had more than eight. Ellie Van De Steeg also chipped in 35 assists.
The Golden Bears are coming off a weekend sweep of MSU Moorhead and Northern State as they closed out the regular season on a strong note. Neither win came easy, though, as the Dragons pushed CU to four sets before NSU forced Concordia to erase a 2-0 deficit in a five set win.
The Mavericks had a more difficult time in the regular season's final weekend as the team dropped both matches to Northern State and MSU Moorhead. The Mavericks fell to the Wolves in four before being swept by the Dragons.
