MARSHALL, Minn. – The second-seeded #3 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (31-3) claimed their 11^th NSIC Central Region Championship in program history with a four-set win over fifth-seeded #7 Minnesota Duluth on Saturday afternoon at PE Gym.
 
The Golden Bears will continue their search for their ninth NCAA Championship in 11 years next week in Pensacola, Florida on the campus of West Florida. The NCAA National Quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday, December 7^th. The eight region champions will be re-seeded prior to that contest.
 
Concordia upped their all-time record to 64-6 in 70 NCAA Tournament matched and 11-3 in region title matches in the win. The Golden Bears also extended their tournament winning streak to nine in a row after winning all six contests last season and three in a row so far this season.
 
In addition, CSP pulled a match closer in the all-time series against the Bulldogs as they moved to 25-27 overall, including 7-2 in NCAA Tournament play and 5-2 in region championships.

 
After two days of grinding out victories, the Golden Bears were firing on all cylinders in the title match as they hit over .300 in three of the four sets against a solid UMD defense while holding their high-powered offense to below .250 in all four sets. Overall in the match, Concordia put up 58 kills with 18 errors on 136 swings for a .294 hitting percentage while Minnesota Duluth finished with 52 kills and 25 errors on 147 swings for a .184 mark.

"I'm pretty shocked. I'm proud of this team and so excited for them," said head coach Brady Starkey. He added, "I thought we did a good job controlling our nerves for our team. Tonight was a night that I didn't really feel like the girls were nervous. They came ready to play and compete and did that from the get-go."

The Golden Bears added decisive edges in digs and blocks as they out-paced UMD 63-51 in the dig category as well as 13.0-9.0 in blocks. Concordia continued their impressive blocking in the postseason as they tallied double-digit blocks for the fourth time in five matches after having just three such matches in the regular season.
 
With their performance in the tournament, Concordia had Elizabeth Mohr, Mariya Sampson, Brooklyn Lewis and Shelby Seurer all named to the NCAA Central Region All-Tournament Team as the quartet of upperclassmen played key roles throughout.

Sampson, in the post-match presser, stated, "Honestly, it hasn't really hit me yet. I feel like we're more connected than we have ever been and we know that will be important moving forward."

Seurer chipped in saying, "It's something we've wanted all season and it feels good to be playing solid volleyball this time of year. There have been times were a little shaky, but we were really solid as a team the last three matches. Every person was on point doing their job and every person came to play with energy and intent."

Elizabeth Mohr got all of her hitters involved as the team had five players with at least seven kills, including four with 11 or more. Mohr made it eight double-doubles on the season with an even 50 assists and 11 digs to go along with four blocks and an ace.
 
Brooklyn Lewis and Mariya Sampson combined to pace the squad as they each collected 14 kills in the match. Lewis did it with a solid .455 hitting percentage while Sampson chipped in four digs and three blocks. Sampson also moved within striking distance of becoming the 20^th player in school history to reach 1,000 kills as her 14 brought her career total to 997.
 
Joining in the act were Shelby Seurer and Hope Schiller as each grabbed 11 kills to give the team four in double figures. Seurer committed just one error and hit .500 while also filling the stat sheet with five blocks, five digs and an ace. Schiller also did damage elsewhere with nine digs, three blocks and an ace. Sydney Book wasn't far behind with seven kills while matching a career-best with seven blocks.
 
It was once again the freshmen combo of Erin Fallert and Tori Hanson that cleaned things up in the back as Fallert led all players with 15 digs while Hanson contributed 11 to match Mohr on the day.
 
Sarah Kelly did her part for the Bulldogs as she compiled 14 kills, 13 digs and five blocks in the loss. Mackenzie Morgen added 10 kills and Emily Torve handed out 41 assists as well.
 
The first set lived up to expectations as it featured 11 ties and eight lead changes as the two teams jockeyed for position throughout. It was the Golden Bears that jumped ahead first as they built a 5-3 lead before UMD took the next three points to take a lead of their own. Minnesota Duluth continued to hold a lead until the midpoint of the set when CSP erased a 13-10 deficit with a 5-1 run to take a 15-14 lead. Concordia added to their lead as they went ahead by three at 22-19, but the Bulldogs responded with four straight points to force CSP into two timeouts in quick succession. Coming out of the second timeout, the Golden Bears hammered out three points in a row to storm to a 25-23 opening set victory.
 
Trailing 3-2 early in the second set, Concordia put together a 4-0 run to take the lead for good at 6-3. The Golden Bears continued to add to their lead as they rattled off three in a row to turn an 8-6 lead into an 11-6 advantage. The lead grew to six at 14-8 before the Bulldogs halved it with a 3-0 run to pull back within three at 14-11. That would be all the closer they would get as Concordia extended their edge to as many as seven before cruising to a 25-20 set win to go up 2-0 in the match.
 
The Bulldogs came out firing in the third with a quick 8-0 run to build a 9-2 lead while burning both of CSP's timeouts. The Golden Bears answered back with a 6-1 run of their own to cut it back to two, but UMD was right back on the attack as they grew their advantage back to six at 15-9 following a 4-0 burst. Minnesota Duluth continued to pour it on as Concordia was unable to shrink the gap below five until closing moments as the Bulldogs took the set 25-20 to force another set.
 
The Golden Bears wasted little time putting their mark on the fourth set as they scored eight of the first 10 points to quickly grab a comfortable advantage. Minnesota Duluth managed to pull back within four at 9-5, but that would be all the closer they would get as it was all Concordia from there. CSP raced out to an eight point lead with four points in a row before stretching it all the way out to 11 at 23-12 with what was an extended 14-7 run. UMD cut it to single digits but never really threatened the Golden Bears as they closed out the match with a 25-16 set win to cue the celebration.