ST. PAUL, Minn. - The #3 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (18-2, 10-2 NSIC) rolled to a sweep of Minnesota State (9-11, 3-9 NSIC) at Gangelhoff Center for Dig Pink on Tuesday night.
On Dig Pink night, an event put on by CSP's SAAC and business club for breast cancer awareness through Susan G. Komen Foundation, the Golden Bear defense shined as they made things difficult for the Maverick attack. For the second match in a row, CSP held their opponents to a negative hitting percentage as MSU finished the match at -.029. Concordia picked up 52 digs and and 6.0 total blocks as MSU had just 21 kills on the night.
Offensively, Concordia also found success as they finished the match at .357 as they picked up 45 kills with just 10 errors on 98 swings. The team hit at least .303 in each set as they had 44 assists compared to 19 for MSU.
The Golden Bears made it seven straight wins in the series with the Mavericks as they improved to 25-4 overall and 12-0 at home against MSU.
Leading the way for the Golden Bears on the offensive attack was junior Mariya Sampson as she led all players with 13 kills. The 13 kills was a season-high for her as she also chipped in a block and a dig.
Anna Schlaak stayed hot as she made it eight straight matches in double figures in kills with 11 as she added 10 digs for her fifth double-double in the last seven matches. Riley Hanson also added nine kills and three blocks in the win.
Kasey Williams guided the offense with 37 assists as she fell a dig shy of a double-double while Emily McDonough put up 15 digs as well.
Krista Hassing provided a bright spot for the Mavericks with a team-leading nine kills and a .391 hitting percentage while Maddie Keute added nine digs.
Concordia took control early after falling behind 2-0 in the first set as they slowly built an advantage before pulling away. The lead sat at three at 11-8 before a 7-0 burst for the Golden Bears burnt both MSU timeouts and put it out of reach as the lead hit double figures. The Mavericks managed to close the gap to eight before CSP closed out the opening set with a score of 25-15.
The second set followed much of the same script as the first two points went in favor of Minnesota State before the Golden Bears took over. Concordia used an extended 13-2 run to turn a 3-2 lead for MSU into a 15-5 lead for CSP. The Golden Bears held a comfortable lead from there as the margin grew to as many as 13 as they took the set 25-12 to build a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Golden Bears carried the momentum of the first two sets into the third as they took five of the first six points before quickly growing their advantage to double figures at 13-3. After the Mavericks rebounded to take five of the the next six points, Concordia answered back with eight in a to make it 20-8. CSP cruised down the stretch as they closed out the sweep with a 25-12 set win.
The Golden Bears hit the road this weekend as they travel to Minot State on Friday and U-Mary on Saturday.
