ST. PAUL, Minn. – The #3 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (21-2, 13-2 NSIC) extended their streak to five sweeps in a row as they knocked off MSU Moorhead (9-14, 4-11 NSIC) in three sets on Friday night.
The sweep gave CSP 27 wins in the last 28 meetings with MSUM and 12 in a row as they improved to 27-8 in the all-time series with the Dragons. The sweep was also Concordia's 18th in 23 matches this season overall as all but three of their wins have been three-setters.
The Golden Bears played relatively mistake-free volleyball as they finished with 52 kills on 112 swings with 12 hitting errors to go along with a long service error and no blocking errors. CSP finished the night hitting .357, aided by a .548 mark in the third, while they held MSUM to .163.
On a night in which CSP rotated at the setter position,
Kasey Williams and
Elizabeth Mohr combined for 47 assists, 11 digs and five service aces in what was an impressive performance. Williams was especially impressive in the stat sheet as she finished just a dig shy of a double-double with 33 assists, nine digs and three aces.
The duo of
Emma Lange and
Riley Hanson proved to be too much at the net for MSU Moorhead as they each finished with a match-best 13 kills as well as two blocks in the win. Lange hit an efficient .480 with four digs and a pair of assists as Hanson was nearly as efficient at .455 as she chipped in two digs.
Anna Schlaak finished the night with eight kills and 11 digs while
Shelby Seurer and
Mariya Sampson each added six kills. In the back row,
Emily McDonough and
Hope Schiller joined Schlaak in double digits in digs as McDonough led all players with 14 while Schiller finished with 10.
Carly Masloski led the Dragons with nine kills while Monica Vega added 12 digs in the losing effort.
Concordia took control early in the opening set as they claimed five of the first seven sets before building their lead. CSP used a 3-0 run midway through the set to push it to 15-9 and four in a row a few points later grew the advantage to 20-11 before the team rolled to take the set 25-13.
The second set proved to be much more dramatic as the set featured 10 ties and five lead changes throughout. Neither team was able to gain much of an advantage as the largest lead of the set was just four and it didn't come until late. The Dragons broke a 9-9 tie with back-to-back points before seeing their lead reach 16-12 a few points later. Concordia closed the gap to one at 17-16 following a 3-0 run, but MSUM quickly regained control with four of five to make it 21-17. MSU Moorhead eventually forced set point at 24-22, but CSP answered back with two points to tie it. After surviving another set point, CSP forced one the other way by taking a 26-25 lead. MSUM responded with two in a row to put the Golden Bears on the brink for the fourth time before three straight points gave Concordia the set win 29-27 as their lead hit 2-0 in the match.
The third set was all Golden Bears as they put it out of reach quickly with a 10-3 run to kick off the set. The lead wouldn't shrink below six the rest of the way as CSP saw their lead grow to double figures at 17-7 before they cruised to win the set 25-13 to complete the sweep.
Concordia returns to action tomorrow afternoon as #13 Northern State makes the trip to Gangelhoff Center for a 4 p.m. match.
