ST. PAUL, Minn. – The second-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (1-1) got into the win column with a sweep of Central Washington (0-2) on Friday evening in the Holiday Inn and Suites Lake Elmo Volleyball Clash.
 
The Golden Bears held the Wildcats to .176 hitting as they ground out their first victory of the season. After hitting .406 in the first set, CSP settled with a .224 hitting percentage in the match.
 
Service play along with blocking also favored Concordia-St. Paul as they led in service aces 5-1 and blocks 17.0-15.0.
 
Mariya Sampson made her season debut for the Golden Bears and she didn't disappoint as she matched Anna Schlaak with a team-high 10 kills while Schlaak also added 10 digs for her first double-double of the season.
 
Kasey Williams finished with 42 assists while Taylor Dordan chipped in 10 digs as well.
 
Riley Hanson had eight kills and an efficient .583 hitting percentage while Heather Schiller continued her strong start to the year with seven kills and six blocks.
 
Linden Firethorne paced Central Washington with a match-best 13 kills while Catie Fry contributed 29 assists and six digs.
 
Concordia controlled the first set from the start as they led from start to finish. They quickly built a 7-3 lead before eventually extending the lead to six at 12-6 following a 5-0 run. The lead wouldn't shrink below five the rest of the set as the lead reached as high as seven on several different occasions, including the final differential of 25-18.
 
The Wildcats bounced back early in the second set as they built a 6-2 lead of their own, but the Golden Bears erased it quickly with eight of the next 10 points to go up 10-8. Central Washington evened it back up three more times midway through at 12, 14 and 15 before CSP looked to pull away with a 7-2 run to make it 22-17. CWU made things very interesting as they rattled off six in a row to take the lead back at 23-22. Concordia was able to stem the tide, however, as they responded to close out the set 26-24 and build a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The Golden Bears got off to a fast start in the third with seven of the first 10 as they set the tone for the set. The Wildcats kept it from getting away but never pulled it closer than two the rest of the way. Concordia-St. Paul saw their lead balloon to as large as six as few times before seeing their lead shrink to 20-18 before settling with a four point differential with a 25-21 set win to complete the sweep.
 
Concordia will close out play in the Holiday Inn and Suites Lake Elmo Volleyball Clash Saturday afternoon against a familiar foe in Winona State.