Volleyball | 9.15.14
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia University volleyball team (7-1) opens up the NSIC schedule with a midweek match at Minnesota State (4-3) on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. in the Taylor Center.
The Golden Bears are coming off the Colorado Premiere Challenge last weekend in which they went 3-1. CU opened the tournament with a thrilling five set win over Florida Southern before being swept by then-#2 Tampa on Friday. Concordia bounced back to sweep then-#4 BYU-Hawaii and beat Colorado Mesa in four sets on Saturday.
Anna Schlaak and
Riley Hanson received All-Tournament honor for the Golden Bears.
Riley Hanson led the team over the weekend with 49 kills (3.27 per set) while hitting .333. She also made a significant impact on the defensive end as she collected 18 blocks (1.20 per set) and the team held opponents to .194 hitting. Her best match of the weekend came in the win over Florida Southern in which she set a new career-high with 20 kills.
Going into Tuesday's match, the Golden Bears have dominated the series with Minnesota State as they have won 18 of the 21 meetings all-time between the schools. CU has won 17 of their last 18 against MSU with the Mavericks beat Concordia in five sets in Mankato two years ago. The Golden Bears won both meetings last season
The first meeting last year came on September 24th in St. Paul and ended with a Golden Bear sweep.
Heather Schiller set a new career high with 15 kills (she has since surpassed that mark) and had a .600 hitting percentage to pace the CU attack. The second match also ended in a sweep with
Emily McDonough leading the way with 10 kills.
Last weekend, the Mavericks hosted the Maverick Invitational as they faced off against Upper Iowa, Wayne State and Black Hills State. MSU got off to a strong start with a four set win over Upper Iowa but were knocked off in four sets against Wayne State in their second match of the weekend. They finished off the tournament with a sweep of Black Hills State to finish the non-conference schedule with a winning record.
Minnesota State is led by Krista Hassing and her 112 kills (4.31 per set) and a .311 attack percentage. The Mavericks have also received a strong start to the year from Ellie Van De Steeg as she has picked up 330 assists (12.69 per set).
Follow the action live at the links listed above.
