MARSHALL, Minn. – The eighth-ranked Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (8-3, 3-1 NSIC) picked up a big conference win as they knocked off third-ranked Southwest Minnesota State (9-3, 2-2 NSIC) in four sets on Friday night.
 
Concordia improved to 13-4 against Southwest Minnesota State when SMSU ranks in the top-10 in the country and 6-3 when they rank in the top-5. Overall, CSP has won 29 of the last 33 meetings between the two schools.
 
Against one of the stronger defenses in the country, the Golden Bears amassed one of their best offensive performances of the year as they put together their second highest hitting percentage of the season at .317. They got better as the match went on as their hitting percentages by set went -.042 in the first, .303 in the second, .361 in the third and .593 in the fourth. Concordia also added 9.0 total blocks compared to just 5.0 for the Mustangs.
 
SMSU nearly matched the CSP as they hit .289 for the match as well, hitting .250 or above in three of the four sets.
 
Emma Lange shined for the Golden Bears as her 13 kills led the way for the squad. She hit an impressive .458 for the match as her 13 kills came on just 24 attempts. Lange also added a pair of blocks.
 
Heather Schiller was even more efficient with her swings as she hit a staggering .562 with 10 kills on 16 attempts to go along with three blocks and three digs.
 
Anna Schlaak joined those two in double figures in kills with ten, while she also contributed five digs. Riley Hanson added nine kills with a .450 hitting percentage and four blocks while Mariya Sampson also chipped in nine kills as well.
 
The duo of Taylor Dordan and Hope Schiller paced the Golden Bears in the dig department as Dordan finished with 13 and Schiller finished with 11.
 
Despite not having a dig on the night, Kasey Williams was impressive orchestrating the offense as she finished with 47 assists.
 
Abbey Thissen led the way for the Mustangs with a match-high 18 kills with Megan Larson had 49 assists and nine digs.
 
The Mustangs opened the opening set strong as they quickly built a four point lead at 9-5 to set the tone for the rest of the set. The lead continued to grow from there as Concordia failed to pull closer than three the rest of the way as SMSU continued to grow their advantage. CSP remained within four at 16-12, but a 9-2 run in favor of Southwest Minnesota State put it away as they claimed a comfortable 25-14 win in the first.
 
The script was then flipped as it was the Golden Bears that emerged with the lead after things were pretty even through the early parts of the second set. A key point came with the score tied at 15 as CSP strung together four consecutive points to take the lead for good. SMSU pulled back within two at 19-17 before Concordia took six of the final seven points to even the match with a 25-18 set win.
 
The crucial third set proved to be quite a dramatic one with frequent ties and lead changes. CSP took four of the first six points and continued to lead until SMSU grabbed three in a row to take a 13-12 lead of their own. The Golden Bears bounced back to regain the lead at 17-16 but saw it disappear late as Southwest Minnesota State pulled back ahead at 22-21 following a 4-0 run. The Mustangs remained out front at 24-23 as they sat one point away from closing out the set, but a pair of Riley Hanson kills with an SMSU error in between gave CSP the decisive advantage at 26-24 to build a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
The two teams traded points for much of the fourth set before a big 4-0 run midway through gave the Golden Bears a 16-12 lead. CSP wouldn't allow SMSU to cut the lead below three for the rest of the set as they eventually cruised to a 25-19 set win to close out the match in four.
 
Concordia will look to finish the week 3-0 tomorrow afternoon as they travel to take on USF at 2 p.m.