ST. PAUL, Minn. – The fourth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (18-4, 12-2 NSIC) cruised to a sweep over eighth-ranked Minnesota Duluth (16-7, 9-5 NSIC) on Saturday night at the Gangelhoff Center.
Concordia picked up their 21
st win in the last 35 meetings with the Bulldogs as they improved to 21-25 against UMD in the all-time series.
The Golden Bears made quick work of the Bulldogs as they controlled every aspect of the game. CSP hit .461, their second highest mark of the season, while holding UMD to just .128 in the match. Concordia had a miniscule five hitting errors compared to 20 for Minnesota Duluth in addition to out-blocking UMD 8.0-4.0.
The efficiency of the Golden Bear offense came from nearly everyone as
Riley Hanson,
Emma Lange,
Heather Schiller and
Anna Schlaak all hit .400 or better in the match. Hanson led the way with 14 kills and a .591 hitting percentage while Lange joined her in double figures with 10 kills and an even better .667 hitting percentage. Schiller and Schlaak chipped in seven kills each as they hit .545 and .400, respectively.
Defensively,
Taylor Dordan continued her recent run of strong play with a match-high 18 digs while Schlaak was next up with eight digs.
Kasey Williams finished with 37 assists in solid performance guiding the CSP offense.
CU Volleyball vs. Minnesota Duluth 10.24.2015 - Images by
Justin Oakman
Mariah Scharf was the only Bulldog in double figures in kills as she finished with 12 kills and Ashley Hinsch added 32 assists.
CSP set the tone for the match from the start as they claimed four of the first five points to get off to a fast start. That lead quickly doubled at 8-2 before shrinking back to four at 12-8, but Concordia held off the Bulldogs from really getting back in it. The Golden Bear lead reached seven at 16-9 and didn't fall below five the rest of the set as CSP rolled to a 25-16 opening set win.
After falling behind 2-0 in the second, Concordia strung together four in a row to once again claim the early advantage. The lead slowly increased to seven at 14-7 and continued to hover around that differential for much of the rest of the set until a 3-0 run to close out the set pushed it to 25-15 as the Golden Bears went up 2-0 in the match.
The Golden Bears picked up right where they left off in the final set as they quickly ran out to a double digit lead at 13-3 to put it away early. The lead eventually reached as large as 12 at a few different points before Concordia settled with a 25-14 win to complete the sweep.
Concordia embarks on a four match road trip next weekend as they travel to Bemidji State on Friday and Minnesota Crookston on Saturday.
