CROOKSTON, Minn. – The top-ranked Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (12-0, 4-0 NSIC) extended their winning streak to 12 with a sweep of Minnesota Crookston (5-7, 1-3 NSIC) on Friday night. The Golden Bears took the three sets 25-17, 25-10 and 25-16.
 
CSP hits 12-0 for just the third time in program history as they continue their best start since 2011. Concordia began the season 22-0 in 2011 and went a perfect 37-0 in 2009.
 
Concordia rode an efficient offense to a hitting percentage of .432, including a mark of .667 in the second set, as they picked up 45 kills on 81 swings. In the dominant second set, CSP picked up 15 kills while committing a single error on 21 attempts. The defense also slowed down the Golden Eagles as they limited UMC to .085 for the match, without allowing a mark higher than .154 in any of the three sets. The Golden Bears won the serving battle with a 7-2 advantage in service aces along with a 35-25 edge in digs as well.
 
Concordia's two middles stole the show as freshman Sara Macek was nearly perfect with 10 kills on 13 swings to hit .692 while Riley Hanson continued her impressive start with a match-high 11 kills along with a .500 hitting percentage. The solid efforts moved Macek to .531 while Hanson remained at .500 for the season.
 
Anna Pioske joined in with nine kills to go along with six apiece for Anna Schlaak and Emma Lange. Schlaak hit .667 with 11 digs while Lange hit .455.
 
Kasey Williams added another 43 assists (14.33 per set) to her season total to bring her to 504 on the season while Emily McDonough once again led the team with 13 digs, extending her streak to 12 straight matches in double figures to start the year.
 
Kelci Green paced the Golden Eagles with eight kills and a .462 hitting percentage to go along with 19 assists for Sierra Trost in the loss.
 
The Golden Bears set the tone for the match right off the bat with four of the first five points as they took the lead for good. The lead quickly reached six at 10-4 before UMC battled back to within one at 13-12. Concordia regained control with a decisive 9-1 run before settling with a 25-17 set win in the first.
 
The second set began much in the same way as CSP rattled off five of six points to take an early 5-1 lead. Concordia's advantage continued to grow from there as it hit 12 at 17-5 as it remained in double digits for the rest of the set before they took the second set 25-10.
 
Concordia closed things out in comfortable fashion in the third as they did not trail throughout the entire set. After the Golden Bears took a 6-2 lead, Minnesota Crookston battled back within one on several occasions before Concordia built a comfortable lead. It eventually reached five at 12-7 as the advantage remained above three until the Golden Bears pulled away with six in a row to close out the match with a 25-16 set win.
 
CSP will look to remain unbeaten on Saturday night as they travel to Bemidji State. First serve is set for 4 p.m.