ST. PAUL, Minn. – The #2 Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (16-1, 8-1 NSIC) closed out a successful weekend with a sweep on the road at #8 Wayne State (14-4, 5-4 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Bears cruised to 25-13 and 25-18 set wins in the first two sets before hanging on for a 29-27 win in the third.
 
CSP picked up their 30^th win in 42 meetings with the Wildcats while improving to 13-3 in Wayne all-time. The win also gives Concordia 11 wins this season against top-25 opponents, with eight of those wins coming against top-10 competition.
 
The Golden Bears dominated throughout as they hit at least .333 each set to finish at .367 for the match while holding Wayne State to .137, including .088 or below in each of the first two sets. CSP led in nearly every category with edges of 47-34 in kills, 47-34 in assists, 59-38 in digs and 7.0-5.0 in blocks while committing less hitting errors (11-18) and less service errors (6-7).
 
Anna Schlaak finished off a huge weekend with a match-high 15 kills to go along with 14 digs and a pair service aces while hitting .400. For the weekend, Schlaak put up a massive 38 kills and 31 digs with double-doubles in each match.
 
Emily McDonough also picked up where she left off as she led all players with 18 digs while Kasey Williams added 43 assists in another big effort.
 
Emma Lange joined Anna Schlaak in double figures with 12 kills and a .455 hitting percentage while Shelby Seurer and Mariya Sampson each collected seven kills on 10 swings with no errors.
 
Michaela Mestl shined for the Wildcats with 14 of the team's 34 kills while Megan Gebhardt chipped in 32 assists and a team-best nine digs.
 
Concordia jumped ahead early in the first set as they grabbed the first five points and eight of the first nine to build a comfortable lead. The Wildcats took the next three to cut it to four, but they wouldn't get any closer as CSP extended their advantage from there. The lead sat at six at 16-10 before an 8-0 run for the Golden Bears put it out of reach at 24-10 en route to taking the set 25-13.
 
The second set began in much of the same way for the Golden Bears as they went up 4-1 in the early going, but WSC turned things around quickly to tie it up at 5-5 and again at 6-6. Concordia regained the lead for good from there but were unable to build much of an advantage as it remained at just one at 14-13. It wasn't until the late stages that CSP pulled away to win the set 25-18 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The two teams traded leads early in the third set as Concordia looked to close out the sweep. The set featured 10 ties and three lead changes as Wayne State led as late as 10-8 before a 10-3 run put the Golden Bears out front by five. CSP's lead sat at five again at 21-16, but the Wildcats battled back to tie it up at 24-24. The set featured three more ties as WSC survived four set points before Concordia closed out the sweep with a 29-27 set win in the third.
 
The Golden Bears return home for another crucial weekend as they host #4 Southwest Minnesota State on Friday before taking on Sioux Falls on Saturday.