ST. PAUL, Minn. – The #1 Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (23-2, 16-1 NSIC) stormed back to win the final three sets to stun #7 Northern State (21-4, 14-3 NSIC) in five set on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center. The Wolves took the first two sets 25-23 and 25-21 before CSP claimed the final three 28-26, 25-21 and 15-13.
 
The Golden Bears erased a 2-0 deficit for the first time since Oct. 7, 2016 against Augustana as CSP put themselves fully in the driver's seat to grab their 14^th NSIC regular season title in 15 seasons under Brady Starkey. Concordia's win, coupled with NSU's loss and SMSU's loss to UMD, means a win tomorrow afternoon on Senior Day guarantees at least a share of the regular season conference crown as the Golden Bears hold a two-game lead over NSU, SMSU and UMD with three to play.
 
Concordia continued to find success in five-setters against Northern State with their fourth five-set victory in as many chances over the past four seasons against the Wolves to improve to 33-8 in the all-time series.
 
The match featured a staggering 33 ties and 10 lead changes as none of the five sets were decided by more than four points. CSP once again made their points count on the night as they were out-hit .270 to .241 with both teams grabbing 75 kills in the match. NSU held a significant edge in the digs category with 104 compared to 83 for Concordia while the Golden Bears held a slight 10.0-9.5 edge in blocks.
 
Brooklyn Lewis continued her torrid pace with yet another career high in kills as she matched or bested her previous career-best for the fourth match in a row. Lewis compiled 26 kills on a massive 59 swings for a .322 hitting percentage to go along with five blocks and five digs. Her 26 kills were the most by a Golden Bear since Anna Schlaak hammered out 34 kills on Sept. 5, 2015.
 
Elizabeth Mohr also flew past a career-best mark as she assisted on 66 of the team's 75 kills on the night. Her 66 assists were five more of her previous best set against Tampa on Sept. 2. Mohr also finished a dig shy of a double-double with nine digs as well as two blocks in the win.
 
Shelby Seurer, Mariya Sampson and Sydney Book were all beneficiaries of Mohr's distribution as Seurer and Sampson each put up 14 kills while Book added 10. Book chipped in five blocks while Seurer had four and Sampson contributed five digs.
 
Hope Schiller added another career high in the digs category as she tallied 23 digs to go along with nine kills and a pair of service aces. Erin Fallert joined in double figures with 17 digs while Tori Hanson added 15 more on the night.
 
Hailey Busch led the Wolves with 21 kills and 16 digs while Holly Vancura also contributed a double-double with 19 kills and 19 digs. Jaiden Langlie paced all players with 26 digs in the loss.
 
Concordia grabbed the first two points and led for much of the early going until the 10-8 mark when the Wolves used a 3-0 run to take an 11-10 lead. NSU remained even or out front for the remainder of the set as they strung together four straight a few points later to make it 19-15 in their favor. The lead was still at four at 22-18 before CSP used a 4-0 run to tie it back up, but Northern State claimed three of the last four points to win the set 25-23.
 
The Wolves followed up the first set win with a huge 6-0 run right off the bat to build a 7-1 advantage. After the Golden Bears took three straight in their favor, Northern State responded with eight of the next 10 points to balloon their lead all the way out to nine at 15-6. Concordia chipped away with a 6-1 run to make it 16-12, but the Wolves answered right back with a 5-1 run of their own to push it back to eight. With the lead still at seven at 23-16, CSP cut the deficit down to three at 24-21 with five of six as they erased three consecutive set points before NSU closed it out 25-21 to take a 2-0 lead.
 
The third set featured the two teams trading points with just one run longer than two in a row for either team throughout the set. With both teams even at 6-6, the Golden Bears took three straight points to match their largest lead of the set at 9-6. From there, the lead fluctuated from one to three the rest of the way with Concordia remaining out front but unable to pull away. CSP forced set point at 24-22, but the Wolves scored the next two to tie it up. Northern State survived two more set points before the Golden Bears put it away 28-26 to stay alive and force a fourth set.
 
NSU took the early lead again in the fourth with four of the first five points before Concordia turned the momentum in their favor. Trailing 8-6, CSP rattled off seven of nine points to jump ahead 13-10. The Wolves responded with a 5-1 to regain the lead, but the Golden Bears quickly took the next two to pull back ahead. The next seven points went back and forth to make it 19-19 before the Concordia closed out strong with a 6-2 run to win the set 25-21 and push the match to a deciding fifth set.
 
Concordia struck first in the fifth with three of the first four, but the Wolves quickly evened it up at 4-4. CSP jumped back out front by two at 8-6 before the Wolves put together another run, this time a 4-1 burst, to take their first lead of the set at 10-9. They remained out front at 11-10 before the Golden Bears regained control with four of five to force set point at 14-12. Northern State stayed alive for the first set point but were unable to stay alive for a second as Concordia completed the comeback by taking the set 15-13.
 
CSP closes out the regular season home slate against MSU Moorhead tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. The team will honor their three seniors on Senior Day as well as the 2007 national championship team on the 10 year anniversary of their title.