Volleyball | 9.10.14
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The #1 Concordia University volleyball team (4-0) continues its non-conference slate this weekend as they head to Denver for the Colorado Premiere Challenge. The Golden Bears open up with Florida Southern (3-0) at 1 p.m. and #4 Tampa (4-0) at 6 p.m. on Friday and follow it up with #4 BYU-Hawaii (2-0) at 1 p.m. and Colorado Mesa (4-0) at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Concordia is coming off a perfect 4-0 weekend in which they defeated two top-20 opponents in then-#7 Southwest Minnesota State and then-#17 Wheeling Jesuit along with Missouri S&T and Ashland.
Emma Lange was a big factor for the Golden Bears on the weekend with a .529 hitting percentage and 43 kills. Lange also added 15 total blocks. Her best match of the weekend came against Missouri S&T on Saturday as she collected 22 kills on 31 attempts with only one error for a hitting percentage of .677.
Setter
Kasey Williams also had a solid opening weekend with 167 assists (12.85 per set) and 41 digs (3.15 per set) as she guided the Golden Bears to a .318 hitting percentage. Williams had two double-doubles on Saturday, including a career-high 49 assists along with 15 digs against Missouri S&T.
CU has met Florida Southern three previous times and has swept all three matches. All three meetings have occurred in the Colorado Premier Challenge with the first matchup dating back to 2008. Last season, CU hit .488 as a team in the sweep with
Riley Hanson and
Heather Schiller both finishing with double-digit kills.
The meeting with BYU-Hawaii represents a rematch of last year's national championship match. The Golden Bears won in straight sets to claim their seventh straight title.
Riley Hanson was nearly unstoppable in the match with 15 kills and a .636 hitting percentage while
Taylor Dordan chipped in 20 digs. Concordia also knocked off the Seasiders twice during the 2012 season, including a matchup in the national semifinals.
Concordia is 8-3 all-time against Tampa and has faced Tampa twice in the national championship, winning both meetings (2010 CU won in four sets, 2012 CU won in five sets). CU faced off against the Spartans twice last year, including in the national quarterfinals, handing them their only two losses. Tampa controlled play in the first set of the quarterfinal match before the Golden Bears stormed back for three straight set wins.
The final match of the weekend against Colorado Mesa represents the first ever meeting between the two schools.
Something has to give as all five teams enter the weekend with perfect records and a combined record of 17-0 on the young season.
Live stats and live video will be available for the weekend at the tournament website listed above.
