ST. PAUL, Minn. - #4 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball (17-4, 11-2 NSIC) used a strong defensive evening in picking up a 3-0 win over visiting St. Cloud State (8-13, 4-9 NSIC) on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center.

The win is Concordia's third in a row overall and 22nd consecutive win over St. Cloud State. The Golden Bears remain at home tomorrow with a 4 p.m. match against #8 Minnesota Duluth (16-6, 9-4 NSIC) in a top-10 showdown at Gangelhoff Center. Although first serve is at 4 p.m., the Roast the Dogs event starts at 3 p.m. on the GC Plaza for a hot dog cookout.

Concordia set the tone in the opening set of the match by holding the Huskies to -.100 hitting in a 25-9 first set win. The Huskies would battle back in the second and third sets but the Golden Bears closed each set out 25-19 and 25-18.

On the night, Concordia's defense was paced by senior libero Taylor Dordan's 14 digs while she added three service aces. Two others also reached double-figures in digs, Anna Schlaak and Kasey Williams with 10 each.

While the Golden Bears were able to dig up the Husky attack consistently, the net defense was also strong as Concordia had nine blocks compared to three for SCSU. Heather Schiller once again had a strong night at the net with six blocks (2.0/set) while three others, Riley Hanson, Emma Lange and Anna Pioske had two each.


CU Volleyball vs. St. Cloud State 10.23.2015 - Images by Justin Oakman

Offensively, Concordia hit .219 for the night with Lange leading the team with nine kills and a .333 percentage. Schlaak added eight kills while Hanson and Schiller each had seven.

Williams had a double-double for the Golden Bears with 30 assists to go with her 10 digs.

St. Cloud State was led by Rachel Burke's match-high 10 kills and Brianne Stamer's 21 digs.

In that decisive opening set, Concordia built an early 7-1 lead and didn't look back, pushing it to 16-4 and extending it to 22-5, a 17-point advantage before closing out the 25-9 first set win. Concordia was clicking early as the offense hit .444 (14-2-27) led by Emily McDonough's five kills while Schlaak put down three in just four attempts.

The second set was a different story as the Huskies made adjustments. The set featured nine ties and three lead changes with SCSU holding leads of 10-6, 13-9 and 16-13. From there, Concordia picked up four consecutive points to take a 17-16 lead on Dordan's serve as she delivered an ace for the lead.

SCSU rallied back with a pair of points for an 18-17 lead but McDonough and Hanson teamed up for a block to reclaim a 19-18 lead after Elizabeth Mohr had set Shelby Seurer on the previous play to tie it.

The Huskies wouldn't lead again in the set with McDonough closing it out on the serve as an ace and a pair of Schlaak kills allowed Concordia to win the last six points.

In the second set, SCSU was able to hold Concordia to a .150 hitting percentage but Concordia's defense remained consistent in limiting the Huskies to a .000 percentage. Emma Lange was fantastic in the second set, terminating four of her six attempts while Seurer put down three of her five attempts.

In the third set, SCSU started strong with a 2-1 lead but Concordia scored seven straight to claim an 8-2 advantage with the lead holding throughout the rest of the night. Hanson and Schiller each delivered five kills in the final set with Dordan digging up half (7) of her match total (14) digs.

In the match clinching set, Concordia once again hit a lower total at .149 but the defense remained the constant as SCSU was only able to hit .054 which would be its highest set percentage of the match.