ST. PAUL, Minn. – The top-seeded and top-ranked Concordia-St. Paul (28-2) erased a 2-0 deficit against fourth-seeded #6 Minnesota Duluth (24-7) on Saturday afternoon at Gangelhoff Center to advance to the NSIC Tournament Championship match. The Golden Bears' five-set victory sets up a matchup against second-seeded #4 Southwest Minnesota State in the title match at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
 
CSP heads into Sunday's meeting with the Mustangs looking for their sixth NSIC Tournament title after claiming the crown with a win over SMSU in last season's title match. The Golden Bears improve to 23-4 in NSIC Tournament action all-time as they will be playing in the title for the eighth time in 10 trips to the tourney. The winner of tomorrow's match will earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
 
The Golden Bears and the Mustangs will meet for the third time this season with the two teams splitting the series with a four-set win apiece. In the all-time series, Concordia holds a 34-24-1 record against SMSU, including an 18-11 mark on their home court.
 
Concordia's unbeaten streak on their home court looked to be in serious jeopardy as the Bulldogs grabbed the first two sets before the Golden Bears came storming back. With the win, the Golden Bears extended the streak to 25 in a row on their home court with their last loss at Gangelhoff Center coming back on Sept. 30, 2016 coming at the hands of UMD. The victory also pushed CSP's overall streak to 13 straight wins this season while they also pulled closer to .500 all-time against the Bulldogs at 24-27.
 
 
While the Golden Bears struggled with the serve to begin the match, collecting just one ace with five service errors in the first two sets, they came back with a vengeance with 11 aces in the final three sets to finish with 12. The Bulldogs finished with just over an ace per set with six aces while committing seven service errors on the night.
 
Outside of serving, the two team were nearly identical statistically across the board as CSP hit .209 compared to .201 for UMD while the Golden Bears held a slim advantage in digs at 74-72. Both teams finished with 11.0 blocks while Minnesota Duluth collected six more kills with a margin of 61-55.
 
After a quiet opening two sets in which she tallied three total kills, Brooklyn Lewis surged to a team-high 16 kills with just two errors on 28 swings to register a match-best .500 hitting percentage on the afternoon. The junior put together a near-perfect fifth set with six kills on seven attempts help close out the victory.
 
Sydney Book was nearly as effective with a solid .435 hitting percentage as she put up 13 kills on 23 swings in the match. Book was also dominant at the net with six blocks to lead the team. Shelby Seurer joined those two in double figures with 10 kills while she also added three blocks.
 
The back row trio of Tori Hanson, Erin Fallert and Hope Schiller got it done both defensively and with the serve as all three contributed at least 15 digs and three aces in the win. Hanson paced the squad with 23 digs while Fallert and Schiller tallied 15 each. Elizabeth Mohr added a pair of aces as well to go along with her 49 assists and six digs.
 
Mackenzie Morgen was the focal point of the UMD offense as she led all players with 21 kills while completing the double-double with 12 digs. Emily Torve added a double-double of her own with 55 assists and 12 digs while Kate Berg fell a dig short with 16 kills and nine digs.
 
The Bulldogs set the tone for the opening set right off the bat as they scored four of the first five points to take an early three point lead. UMD continued to maintain a slim lead as the Golden Bears cut the deficit down to one on five different occasions. Concordia had it down to one at 14-13 before a 5-0 run in favor of the Bulldogs extended the lead out to six at 19-13. Minnesota Duluth continued to push ahead from there as they controlled play to roll to a 25-17 set win to get off to a fast start in the match.
 
CSP took their first lead of the match with a 4-1 run to start the second set, but UMD quickly responded with four straight to regain the lead. Through the midway point of the set, there were two more lead changes along with five more ties as the teams jostled for an edge. With the Golden Bears holding a 10-8 lead following back-to-back points, Minnesota Duluth grabbed the next four to build a two point lead of their own. That lead continued to grow a few points later as the Bulldogs used a 3-0 run to extend it to four at 18-14. Concordia clawed their way back in it as they cut the margin to one at 20-19 after a 4-0 burst, but the Bulldogs regained momentum to score six of the final seven to win the set 25-21 and put CSP on the brink of defeat.
 
The points were split evenly early in the third set as neither team had a lead of more than two until midway through. With CSP trailing 9-8, they put together their best run of the night to that point with five in a row to take a 13-9 lead. The lead hit five at 17-12 following a 3-0 run before growing to as many as eight at 24-16 as Concordia eased their way past UMD with a 25-18 set win to push it to the fourth.
 
The fourth proved to be the biggest of the match as the two teams battled it out from start to finish in front of a raucous crowd. The momentum swings were evident throughout as the set featured nine ties and six lead changes in what was back-and-forth play. It was Minnesota Duluth that delivered the first blow as they used a 4-0 run to build a 13-8 edge. Concordia responded with five of six to cut it to one at 14-13 before taking the lead at 19-16 with a massive 5-0 run shortly after. A 3-0 run a few points later gave the Bulldogs a 23-22 lead before they put CSP a point away from defeat at 24-23. The Golden Bears came through in a big way as they erased the set point with three points of their own to claim the set 26-24 and send the match to a decisive fifth set.
 
After the two teams traded the first six points, a 4-1 surge for the Golden Bears gave them a cushion at 7-4 to force UMD into a timeout. CSP then took two of the next three to force another timeout at 9-5 as they closed in on the comeback win. Their lead would not shrink below three the rest of the way as they repelled a Minnesota Duluth run to finish off the match with a 15-10 win in the fifth to move on to the title.