DENVER, Colo. – The fourth-ranked Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (5-1) stayed hot as they knocked off defending national champion and top-ranked University of Tampa (5-2) in three sets to advance to the Colorado Premier Challenge Gold Championship.
The Golden Bears will take on #13 Ferris State in the championship tonight at 8 p.m. CT in a match that will be streamed live to a larger audience on ESPN3, which is available on numerous devices and platforms.
The semifinal match renewed a rivalry on the national stage as the Golden Bears improved to 9-4 in 13 meetings with the Spartans. UT snapped a five-match losing streak, with four of those matches coming the NCAA Elite Eight, last season with a sweep of CSP but saw the tables turned this year as Concordia returned the favor.
Concordia continued their trend set in the first day of the tournament as they used a dominant defensive effort to pick up the win. CSP held the Spartans to .216 or below hitting in each set as they finished the match at .147. The Golden Bears found more success on offense as they hit .235 as a team.
With a pretty balanced attack, it was
Riley Hanson's turn to lead the charge as she finished with a team-high 12 kills with match-best .478 hitting percentage. Fellow middle
Heather Schiller was nearly as impressive as she chipped in nine kills to go along with five blocks while hitting .304.
Anna Schlaak,
Mariya Sampson and
Emma Lange also chipped in on offense as Schlaak and Sampson contributed eight kills while Lange had six. Schlaak also put up 14 digs in the match.
Libero
Taylor Dordan was active for Concordia as she led all players with 20 digs while
Kasey Williams finished with 37 assists to lead the offense.
Marissa Lisenbee provided a bright spot for Tampa as she finished with a match-high 15 kills with a .297 attack percentage and eight digs.
Concordia set the tone right off the bat in the first set as they sprinted out to a quick 5-1 lead. The Spartans battled back to tie it at 7 but saw CSP put it out of reach in short order. The Golden Bears pushed the lead out to seven at 16-9 before eventually extending the lead to nine en route to taking the set 25-17.
The second set proved to be much of the same as CSP took four of the first five points to build an early cushion. Tampa tied it up a few times in the middle of the set before Concordia took the lead for good with a momentum-stealing 5-0 run to build a 14-9 advantage. UT was able to get it back to within two but the Golden Bears answered back to closed out the set 25-20 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Spartans led for the first time all day early in the third set as they started off on a 5-2 run but they saw their comeback hopes dashed as CSP took the lead for good at 8-7. Concordia steadily grew their lead the rest of the set as they settled with a 25-20 set win in the third to pick up their third consecutive sweep in the Colorado Premier Challenge.
Watch live tonight as the Golden Bears look to close out play in the Colorado Premier Challenge with a perfect record at 8 p.m. CT as they take on #13 Ferris State on ESPN3.
