BISMARCK, N.D. - Top-ranked Concordia-St. Paul (25-2, 18-1 NSIC) rolled to a 3-0 win at U-Mary (8-20, 4-15 NSIC) on Friday night (25-18, 16, 16) at McDowell Activity Center. The win secures Concordia's Northern Sun regular season championship outright and solidifies the number one seed for the NSIC Tournament, which starts next Wednesday, November 15 at campus sites of the top four seeds.

But before postseason play begins, Concordia will end the regular season on the road tomorrow at Minot State (5-23, 1-18 NSIC) at 2 p.m.

The Golden Bears have clinched the top spot and the top eight teams for the NSIC Tournament field are decided, but the remaining seven seeds are otherwise up in the air. Concordia could end up playing either Augustana (12-7), Wayne State (12-7) or Upper Iowa (11-8) on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Gangelhoff Center, with the pairings known tomorrow evening.

In tonight's match, it was junior Hope Schiller who paced the Bears with 12 kills, hitting a match-high .450 (12-3-20) and adding four digs, two aces and a block. She was the only Golden Bear to reach double-figures in kills as five hitters had at least six kills in the match.

Seniors Shelby Seurer and Mariya Sampson combined for 15 kills and just three errors with Seurer delivering an 8-2-15 line (.400) with Sampson at 7-1-14 (.429). Sydney Book and Brooklyn Lewis each had six kills with Book adding four blocks.

The versatile attack was directed by setter Elizabeth Mohr who spread around her 39 assists to the five hitters at a .321 clip.

Freshmen Tori Hanson and Erin Fallert led the defensive effort in the back with 12 and seven digs, respectively and played error free on the serve receive where Concordia had seven team aces and only two receiving errors.

The Marauders had a pair of players in double-figures in kills led by Lauren Randall's match-high 14 kills while Natalia Cruz added 13. U-Mary had only six fewer kills than CSP, delivering 33 on 90 swings.

Concordia jumped out to a commanding lead right out of the gates with the first three points as Book took charge early with a block assist with Lewis for the first point before back-to-back kills. It started a first set spurt that had CSP take a 13-4 lead midway through the set. Concordia swelled the first set lead as high as nine three times (16-7 & 18-7) and kept at least a four point lead (17-13 & 22-18) before putting away the Marauders 25-18.

The second and third sets were tighter with three ties and three lead changes in the second set before six ties and a lead change in the third.

U-Mary took charge early in the second set, scoring three of the first four points and holding a 5-4 lead in the early going. Concordia responded with a seven point surge on junior Taylor Soine's serve that included three kills by Seurer and a pair by Schiller.

While U-Mary was able to trim it back to three (11-8), the Golden Bears ran away with the second set in the back half of the set. Concordia led by as many as 10 (23-13) late in the set.

The Marauders started the third strong again with the first three points before Concordia responded with the next three. U-Mary took the next three leads as the teams traded points before CSP finally gained its first lead of the third set at 7-6.

Concordia didn't trail again and broke an 8-8 tie by scoring seven straight points on Mohr's serve that included a pair of aces from Mohr and a pair of kills and a block by Book.