ST. PAUL, Minn. – The #3 Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (19-2, 12-1 NSIC) made it two wins against ranked opponents in as many days with a dramatic four-set win over #16 Augustana (17-6, 8-5 NSIC) on Parent Day at Gangelhoff Center. Concordia cruised to 25-16 and 25-12 wins in the first two sets before dropping the third 25-19 to set up a wild 32-30 win in the fourth.
 
CSP improved to 8-2 on the season against opponents inside the top-25 as they won their fourth against a ranked opponent since the start of the conference season. The win also bumped the Golden Bears to 23-1 in the all-time series against the Vikings as Concordia remained unbeaten against Augie since the turn of the century.
 
After hitting a red-hot .531 in the first set and .545 in the second, the Golden Bears were forced to grind it out in the final two sets as they hit .159 in the third and .286 in the fourth to finish the match at .338. CSP tallied 70 kills over the four sets, including 23 in the fourth, while Augie finished with just 54. Concordia also held an 8-5 advantage in service aces, giving them 21 aces on the weekend, as well as a 68-61 advantage in digs.
 
Setter Elizabeth Mohr spread the ball around throughout the night as four different CSP players finished with at least 14 kills. Mohr tallied 58 assists on the night, good for 14.50 assists per set.
 
Shelby Seurer and Brooklyn Lewis both finished with a team-high 18 kills as Seurer added to her night with a .680 hitting percentage as well as five digs and three blocks. Hope Schiller completely filled the stat sheet with 15 kills, 11 digs, four aces and four blocks for her sixth double-double on the year. Mariya Sampson joined the trio in double figures as she added 14 kills and four blocks as well.
 
In the back, it was once again the freshman duo of Tori Hanson and Erin Fallert that carried the load as Hanson paced all players with 22 digs to go along with a pair of aces while Fallert registered 18 digs in the win.
 
For the Vikings, Courtney Place was busy early and often with 24 kills on a massive 48 swings while also leading the team with 17 digs. Alex Banker also picked up a double-double with 41 assists and 14 digs on the night.
 
Concordia was dominant in the opening set as they quickly turned a 4-3 deficit into an 8-4 lead with a 5-0 run. CSP added another 5-0 burst midway through the set to extend their advantage to 15-8 as their lead remained four or better the rest of the set. The Golden Bears finished the set strong with six of the final seven points to take the set 25-16.
 
After falling behind 4-2 early in the second set, Concordia rattled off an extended 11-2 run to pull ahead 13-6. The lead remained at seven at 16-9 until the Golden Bears strung together eight of the next nine to build their largest lead of the set at 24-10 before closing it out 25-12.
 
With Concordia taking five of the first seven points to begin the third while looking for the sweep, the Vikings came to life to turn the momentum in their favor. Augustana slowly chipped away before grabbing the lead at 10-9 following three straight points in their favor. After a back and forth stretch in which the lead changed hands several times, Augie took four points in a row to take the lead for good at 19-16. A few points later, the Vikings closed things out with five of six points to force a fourth set with a 25-19 set win in the third.
 
Augustana carried the momentum into the fourth set as they quickly built an 8-3 edge to force a CSP timeout. The Golden Bears battled back to within one at 9-8 but were unable to take the lead until a 4-0 run put them ahead 18-16 later in the set. Augie turned the tides with an 8-3 run to force set point at 24-21, but Concordia would not go away. The Golden Bears tied it up with three straight points before fighting off another set point at 25-24 to take a 26-25 lead themselves. CSP forced five more set points in a wild finish before Lewis took two straight kills to win the set 32-30.
 
Concordia hits the road for three straight matches as they head to Sioux Falls and #2 Southwest Minnesota State next weekend before heading to Minnesota State next Tuesday.