ST. PAUL, Minn. - The #2 Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (9-2, 2-1 NSIC) swept the MSU Moorhead Dragons (5-6, 0-3 NSIC) by scores of 25-7, 25-22 and 25-16 on Saturday afternoon at the Gangelhoff Center. Concordia improves to 24-1 against MSUM in the last 25 meetings between the two schools.

The Golden Bear offense was rolling all afternoon as they hit .394 as a team and held the Dragons to just .146. CU also won the serving battle with eight aces while not allowing any defensively.

Riley Hanson stayed hot with 16 kills and a .481 attack percentage along with three total blocks. She finished the weekend with 31 kills compared to just four errors to hit an extremely efficient .538 in the two matches.

Anna Schlaak was the only other Golden Bear in double figures in kills with 13 as she also added six digs. Taylor Dordan led CU with 12 digs and chipped in two aces as well. Mariya Sampson had the Dragons off balance with her serve as she picked up a career-high four aces along with nine kills and five digs. Kasey Williams nearly collected another double-double as well with 37 assists and eight digs.

MSU Moorhead didn't have a single player with double-digit kills as Kaitlin VanWinkle and Claire Grimm each had nine. Amber Krenske and Casie Baer each had seven digs as well.


CU Volleyball vs. MSU Moorhead 9.20.2014 - Images by Justin Oakman

Concordia set the tone for the match in the first set as they scored 20 of the first 24 points to build a massive 20-4 lead. MSU Moorhead grabbed three more points in the set as they were overwhelmed 25-7 in the set.

The second set was much more competitive as it remained a three point game for much of the set. The Dragons pulled back even at 22 after trailing since it was even at 6 but the Golden Bears settled down to grab three in a row and take the set 25-22.

The Golden Bears led nearly start to finish in the third and final set as they used a 6-0 run to take a 9-3 lead. MSUM closed the gap to three at 12-9 and 13-10 but they wouldn't get any closer the rest of the way. CU slowly pushed the lead out to the final score of 25-16 to complete the sweep.

Concordia is back on the road next week with matches against Upper Iowa, U-Mary and Minot State. Tuesday's match at Upper Iowa is set to begin at 7 p.m. while Friday and Saturday against U-Mary and Minot State are set to begin at 6 p.m.