KEY LINKS: WATCH LIVE | LIVE STATS | TOURNAMENT WEBSITE | INTERACTIVE BRACKET | PRESS CONFERENCES: Concordia | WashburnDULUTH, Minn. – The second-seed #3 Concordia University volleyball team (27-5) won their quarterfinal match in the NCAA Central Region Volleyball Tournament on Thursday afternoon with a sweep of seventh-seed #14 Washburn University (24-7). The Golden Bears advance to take on third-seed #4 Southwest Minnesota State (22-9) on Friday at 5 p.m. at Romano Gym on the campus of UMD.
Concordia erased deficits in all three sets to pick up the three-set win over the Ichabods. The Golden Bears grinded out the win with a .264 hitting percentage as they held WU to .215 hitting.
"I was pretty excited with how well we defended," said head coach
Brady Starkey about the team's performance. "It's been a point of emphasis and I thought we did a very good job of that tonight."
Riley Hanson was tremendous in the middle as she matched her career high with 20 kills on just 34 attempts to finish with a .471 hitting percentage. The First Team All-Region selection also added three digs.
Kasey Williams finished the afternoon with 49 assists and 13 digs to pick up her 13
th double-double on the year.
Anna Schlaak was the only other Golden Bear in double figures in kills with 13 as she was just a dig shy of a double-double with nine.
Taylor Dordan was solid with a match-high 16 digs while
Lisa Atkinson added 10 in the win.
"It helps with the nerves a lot,"
Taylor Dordan said about having experience in the NCAA Tournament. "From point one, we are able to just go out there and play and not have to worry about playing in regions."
Leanna Willer led Washburn with 12 kills while Marissa Cox joined her in double figures with 10 kills. Natalie Bates added 36 assists and nine digs.
The Ichabods put the Golden Bears in an early hole as they built a quick 9-4 lead. CU spent much of the rest of the set playing catch-up until they evened it up at 18-18. After Washburn took the lead back at 19-18, Concordia took control with a huge 5-0 run to grab a 23-19 advantage. WU managed to shrink the lead to two at 23-21 and again at 24-22 but the Golden Bears closed it out on a Sampson kill to win the set 25-22.
Concordia fell behind early again in the second set as Washburn went ahead 8-5. The lead reached five at 14-9 as the Ichabods appeared poised to even the match. Concordia used a 7-3 run to cut the lead to one at 17-16 before tying it up at 19. WU grew their lead back to three at 23-20 to force a CU timeout, but they couldn't hold on. CU survived a pair of set points before they used three of their own to close out the set by a score of 28-26 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Golden Bears got off to a much stronger start in the third set as they pushed out their lead to six at 11-5. A 9-2 run in favor of Washburn gave them a 14-13 lead but Concordia didn't fold. CU regained the lead with a 4-0 run a few points later as they held a 19-16 advantage. The lead reached as large as five at 23-18 for the Golden Bears before Concordia closed it out 25-21 to finish off the sweep.
Concordia wins their 43
rd in a row in the NCAA Tournament and improves their record to 53-4 in tournament play with a perfect 10-0 record in the region quarterfinals. The Golden Bears also hold a perfect record in the region semifinals going into tomorrow, winning all 11 previous trips to the semifinals.
