ABERDEEN, S.D. – The top-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (14-4, 8-2 NSIC) saw their eight-match winning streak snapped at sixth-ranked Northern State (18-0, 10-0 NSIC) in a four set loss on Friday night.
The Golden Bears had their 27 match winning streak against the Wolves dating back to 2003 snapped as CSP fell to 10-5 in 15 trips to Aberdeen. Concordia is now 29-8 overall against NSU.
The Wolves defense was stifling as they held Concordia to a .136 hitting percentage while hitting .259 themselves. CSP finished the match with 25 hitting errors while NSU had 16.
Emma Lange provided a real bright spot for Concordia as she finished with a team-high 14 kills and a hitting percentage of .278. She has now collected double-digit kills and a hitting percentage over .275 in eight consecutive matches.
The duo of
Riley Hanson and
Heather Schiller also made an impact with nine kills apiece while Hanson hit .250 and Schiller hit .231. Schiller also finished with a match-high three blocks, giving her 79 on the season.
Kasey Williams put up a big statistical night with 43 assists and 16 digs to collect the double-double while
Emily McDonough and
Anna Schlaak matched her with 16 digs apiece.
Cari McGarvie led the Wolves offensively with 19 kills while Kelsey Chambers chipped in 12 kills and 16 digs in the win. Drew Smith also put up 50 assists and 10 digs while Renee Hoffman contributed a match-best 24 digs.
The Wolves quickly took control in the opening set as they grabbed the first three points and six of the first seven to build a comfortable lead. The Golden Bears were unable to completely stem the tide as they couldn't pull closer than three the rest of the way. With the lead still at three at 8-5, a 6-1 run in favor of NSU pushed the lead out to 14-6 as Northern State put it out of reach. CSP wouldn't get closer than five the rest of the set as the Wolves took the final five points of the set to win it 25-15.
After the Golden Bears took an early 3-2 lead in the second set, Northern State once again surged with six of the next seven points to go up 8-4. The NSU lead reached eight following a 5-0 run to make it 14-6 as the Wolves were once again firing on all cylinders in the set. Concordia battled back to within five on three different occasions down the stretch before Northern State closed out the set 25-17.
The Wolves looked poised to claim the sweep by taking six of the first eight points before Concordia turned it on and with six in a row to take an 8-6 lead of their own. The Golden Bears continued their strong stretch of play as they extended their lead to four at 15-11 before NSU evened it up to lead to a dramatic finish in the set. CSP turned a tie at 20 into a 22-20 lead as they looked to force a fourth set, but the Wolves answered with two of their own to even it back up at 22. The Golden Bears showed some resolve down the stretch to take three of the final four points to win it 25-23 and extend the match.
The momentum of taking a hard fought third set didn't carry into the fourth set for the Golden Bears as the Wolves built an early five point lead at 9-4. Northern State continued to grow the lead from there as it reached eight at 15-7 following a 4-0 run in their favor. The Golden Bears wouldn't go down easily as they battled back to within four as late as 20-16 but they weren't able to work all the way back as NSU closed out the match with a 25-16 set win.
Concordia will look to get back into the win column tomorrow evening as they travel to take on MSU Moorhead at 5 p.m.
