ST. PAUL, Minn. – The third-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (6-2, 1-0 NSIC) swept Upper Iowa (6-4, 0-1 NSIC) on Thursday night at the Gangelhoff Center to kick off the NSIC season.
 
The Golden Bears dominated play at the net as they stayed unbeaten in 15 meeting against the Peacocks. CSP held UIU to .106 hitting compared to Concordia's mark of .262. Concordia also collected eight blocks while Upper Iowa didn't have a single one on the night.
 
Concordia really spread it around on offense as eight different players had kills and six different players had at least four kills. Emma Lange led the group with nine kills as she hit .286 while also collecting three blocks.
 
Heather Schiller continued her shutdown play at the net as she picked up a match-best five blocks to give her eight matches in a row with at least four blocks. She also had five kills without any errors.
 
Kasey Williams orchestrated the offense with 35 assists while also chipping in seven digs while Anna Schlaak finished with a match-best 13 digs.
 
Jennifer Mundt led UIU with 11 kills as she was the only player on either team to finish in double figures in kills.
 
The first set was pretty balanced in the early going as the set featured three ties up until the 6-6 mark. From that point, the Golden Bears took over as they scored the next five points as they cruised to a comfortable lead. That lead didn't shrink below three as Concordia rolled to a 25-14 set win to open the match.
 
CSP carried that momentum into the second set as they took three of the first four and six of the first nine points. The Golden Bears held that lead for the rest of the match as they slowly grew it to 10 at 19-9. Upper Iowa closed the gap to three at 21-18 but were unable to get any closer as Concordia took a 2-0 lead into the break with a 25-18 set win in the second.
 
The Peacocks got off to a strong start in the third set as they looked to avoid the sweep. UIU collected five of the first seven points before eventually pushing their lead to four at 14-10. The Golden Bears pulled even at 14 and eventually took their first lead of the set at 19-18 as they looked to finish off the match in three. Upper Iowa regained the lead at 20-19 but they were unable to hold on as CSP won the third set 25-23.
 
Concordia returns to the court on Saturday as they travel to Winona State for their first NSIC road match of the season.