ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (14-3, 8-1 NSIC) picked up their second consecutive sweep and eighth consecutive win over Minot State (3-13, 0-9 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon at the Gangelhoff Center.
The Golden Bear offense was nearly unstoppable on the day as they hit .532 for the match, good for fifth best in D-II era program history. Concordia was consistent throughout the day as they hit at least .520 in each of the three sets. CSP also limited the Beavers to .157 hitting in the match.
Leading the way in the ultra-efficient Concordia attack was
Emma Lange. Lange hit an incredible .875 with a match-best 14 kills on just 16 attempts. The junior fell just short of qualifying for the school record, but would have ranked second in program history with her .875 hitting percentage.
Riley Hanson was also extremely efficient with 10 kills on 15 attempts as she hit .533.
Emily McDonough was also effective with nine kills and 10 digs as she needed just one more kill for a double-double.
Kasey Williams and
Elizabeth Mohr split time as setters again as Williams led the way with 34 assists and Mohr chipped in 11 assists as both were impressive in their time on the court.
Mallory Sall led Minot State with eight kills while Brileigh Boyce hit .600 with seven kills for the Beavers.
The Golden Bears put up one their most dominant displays of the year in the first set as they hit an incredible .548 as a team to begin the match. CSP quickly jumped out to a big lead at 9-2 and they didn't let up from there. They pushed the lead to double digits at 16-6 and saw it balloon to a dozen on several occasions before taking their largest lead with a final margin of 25-12.
The second set was back and forth in the early going as the score remained tied at 8-8 before CSP took control. The Golden Bears strung together three straight points and nine of 11 to push their lead to 17-10 and put the set away. The Beavers battled back to within five points a couple of times, but Concordia took the final six points to close out the set 25-14 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The two teams traded points early in the third set as well with seven ties by the 9-9 mark. Concordia once again pulled away from the Beavers with an 11-1 run to take a double digit lead at 20-10. The Golden Bears wouldn't let up from there as they closed out the win with a 25-12 win in the final set.
Concordia is set for a big road weekend as they take on undefeated #8 Northern State on Friday night and MSU Moorhead on Saturday afternoon.
