ST. PAUL, Minn. – Top-seeded #1 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (28-3) was swept by second-seeded #4 Southwest Minnesota State (28-3) in the NSIC Tournament Championship match on Sunday afternoon. The Mustangs claimed their second NSIC Tournament title with both wins coming at Gangelhoff Center.
The Mustangs became the first team to beat CSP on their home court since Sept. 30, 2016 as their home winning streak was snapped at 25 overall and 12 this season.
Southwest Minnesota State grabbed the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as both teams now await their fate in Monday night's NCAA Selection Show. The show will air at 6:30 p.m. on NCAA.com. In Wednesday's final regional rankings, the Golden Bears were in the top spot while SMSU sat in second.
The loss drops the Golden Bears to 23-5 all-time in the NSIC Tournament as they fell to 5-3 in championship matches. Two of those losses have come at the hands of the Mustangs as SMSU picked up victories in 2012 and 2017 in St. Paul. The two teams also met in the title match last season with CSP picking up the crown. In the all-time series between the two schools, Concordia drops to 34-25-1 and 18-12 on their home court.
SMSU outside hitter Taylor Reiss continued her dominant play in the tournament as she followed up her 41-kill, 21-dig night with 25 kills on 58 swings with six digs for a .397 hitting percentage. She was the lone Mustang to finish in double figures as Kaylee Burmeister and Brooke Borchardt added eight kills each.
Megan Larson paced the offense with 42 assists and seven digs to go along with two aces to guide the offense to a .298 hitting percentage. As a team, the Mustangs collected seven aces compared to none for Concordia with an 8.0 to 4.0 edge in blocks on the afternoon.
Reiss was named Tournament MVP while Larson and Burmeister were also named to the All-Tournament Team.
For the Golden Bears,
Brooklyn Lewis provided a major bright spot with a team-best 18 kills on 39 swings as she put together an impressive .436 hitting percentage in the day. Outside of Lewis, CSP finished with a 16-13-74 line to put together an .040 hitting percentage. Overall, Concordia compiled a mark of .177.
Tori Hanson was active in the back row with a match-best 23 digs while
Hope Schiller and Erin Fallert added 10 apiece.
Elizabeth Mohr chipped in 33 assists and four digs.
CSP was represented by Lewis and Hanson on the All-Tournament Team while Augustana's Tahlyr Banks was also selected.
The Mustangs came out firing with five of the first seven points as they set the tone early. The SMSU lead hit four at 10-6 and again at 12-8 before the Golden Bears put together a 4-0 run to tie it up at 12-12. Southwest Minnesota State answered back with three in the row to take the lead for good. CSP cut it down to one at 18-17 but that would be all the closer they would get as SMSU finished on a 7-2 run to take the set 25-19.
The second set was the most hotly contested of the three as it featured 10 ties and five lead changes throughout. Neither team built a lead larger than one until a 4-0 burst gave the Golden Bears a 12-8 lead. The Mustangs responded with six of seven to take a 14-13 lead in what was a huge swing. Their advantage hit three at 18-15 and five at 21-16 as they kept the Golden Bears at bay to win the set 25-21.
Concordia jumped out to a 6-4 lead in the third, but their lead quickly dissolved with an 8-1 run for the Mustangs to make it 12-7. Southwest Minnesota State continued to roll from there with seven of the next nine to make it a 15-3 run overall to push it to double figures at 19-9. The lead did not shrink below nine the rest of the way as SMSU cruised to the sweep with a dominant 25-14 set win in the third.
