ST. PAUL, Minn. – The top-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (1-0) got off to a solid start in the 2016 season opener as they swept #5 Western Washington (0-1) in the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Woodbury Volleyball Clash on Friday night.
 
Concordia improved their mark to 30-2 in nine home preseason tournaments over the past ten years while also pushing their record to 12-2 in 14 season openers under head coach Brady Starkey. The win was also CSP's second in two meetings with WWU, with the last meeting coming back in 2007.
 
The Golden Bears put on a solid display offensively as they hit .288 as a team for the match. CSP seemed to find their stride as the match went on, improving their hitting percentage from .229 in the first to .310 in the second and .343 in the third.
 
Concordia also did a nice job limiting the Vikings as they held WWU to below .150 hitting in the first and third sets as the team picked up 62 digs and 5.0 total blocks. Western Washington finished the match hitting .214 overall.
 
The opener saw CSP put three players in double figures in kills and four in double figures in blocks. Senior Anna Schlaak led the way in both as she put up a double-double with a match-high 16 kills to go along with 14 digs while fellow senior Kasey Williams also finished with a double-double with 47 assists and 11 digs.
 
The duo of Riley Hanson and Emma Lange was extremely efficient as Hanson had 12 kills on 21 swings (.476 hitting percentage) and Lange contributed 11 kills on 20 swings (.500 hitting percentage) as they helped lead the attack. In the back row, Anna Pioske and Emily McDonough each contributed strong performances as Pioske chipped in 12 digs and McDonough added 10.
 
No Vikings finished in double figures in kills as Arielle Turner's eight kills were a team-best and Abby Phelps added seven more. Libero Bryce Larson was joined by Phelps with double digit digs as Larson led all players with 17 and Phelps put up 15.
 
It was Western Washington that jumped out to an early lead in the first by grabbing the first three points, but CSP quickly settled in to take six of the next seven points to jump ahead. The Vikings evened things back up at 8-8 before the two teams proceeded to trade points for much of the middle of the set. The Golden Bears trailed as late as 16-14 before a momentum shifting 10-1 run put the set away in their favor. WWU managed to survive three set points before Concordia closed out the opener 25-20.
 
Neither team was able to string together many points in a row early in the second set until three straight for WWU midway through gave them a 12-9 advantage. That lead remained three at 17-14 before another Concordia spurt, this time a 5-1 run, put CSP back in front. The Vikings managed to pull even three more times before the end of the set, but the Golden Bears finished things off with four of five points to claim the set 25-22.
 
Concordia made things a little easier on themselves in the third set as they turned an early deficit into a lead as they went ahead for good with four straight points to make it 10-7. Their lead wouldn't shrink below two the rest of the set as they cruised to a sweep with a 25-18 win in the third set.
 
The Golden Bears have a quick turnaround as they return to the court tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. against Truman before taking on #5 Western Washington again at 4:30 p.m.