LAKELAND, Fla. – The #1 Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (2-0) made it two straight sweeps on the season's opening day as they took all three sets at Florida Southern (1-1) on Friday night. CSP won the three sets 25-22, 25-17 and 25-23.
The victory extended CSP's streak to 21 wins in a row overall with their last loss coming back on Oct. 14, 2016. The Golden Bears also improved to 5-0 in the all-time series against the Mocs, grabbing their first ever road victory in the series.
After an efficient showing offensively in the opener, CSP bumped it up a notch in the nightcap as they finished with 50 kills and just 10 errors on 106 swings to hit .377 in the win. Florida Southern nearly matched that mark, however, as they finished at .314 as a team. Concordia also held a 5-1 edge in service aces, 43-41 edge in digs and a 4.0-2.0 edge in blocks.
Balance continued to be the story in the attack with four different players registering in double figures in kills on the night.
Shelby Seurer picked up where she left off by improving on her .538 hitting percentage in the first half to lead the team with 13 kills and a .579 hitting percentage in match two. Fellow middle
Sara Macek was even more efficient at .643, collecting 10 kills, while
Hope Schiller and
Mariya Sampson also added 10 kills as well. Schiller also chipped in seven digs in the win.
Elizabeth Mohr collected 46 assists, five digs and a pair of blocks as she orchestrated the attack while
Tori Hanson paced the team with a career-best 16 digs in the win.
Erin Fallert made it two straight matches with double digit digs to start her career as she added 10 digs.
Nicole Mattson and Anna Tovo each picked up at least 10 kills in the loss for the Mocs as Mattson collected 16 and Tovo picked up a double-double with 10 kills and 16 digs. Bethany Becancenez added 40 assists as well.
In the opening set, Concordia started to build a lead with three points in a row to turn an 8-8 tie into an 11-8 advantage after an even start. The lead bounced between two and three until the Golden Bears built their largest lead of the set at 17-13. FSC grabbed four of the next five points to pull within one, but the Golden Bears held off the push as they maintained a lead the rest of the way. The lead was still just one at 22-21 before CSP closed out the set strong with a 3-1 run to win it 25-22.
An early 4-0 run gave CSP the lead for good in the second set as they erased a 4-3 deficit to go up 7-4. That lead held steady for the next several points until the 13-11 mark when the Golden Bears strung three in a row to extend the lead to 16-11. After a push from Florida Southern to close the gap down to two, Concordia cruised to a comfortable 25-17 set win after taking six of the final seven points of the set.
Another early surge in the third set gave Concordia a comfortable lead as a 7-1 run gave them a 10-5 edge. CSP grew their advantage to seven at 17-10 and again at 18-11, but FSC battled back with six straight points to shrink the Golden Bear lead to one at 18-17. The two teams traded runs from there as CSP rattled off five of six before Florida Southern fought off four match points in a row to stay alive. A
Brooklyn Lewis kill finished off the 25-23 set win as the Golden Bears made it six straight set wins to start the year.
Concordia moves down the road to Tampa tomorrow as they take on Central Washington at 11:45 a.m. and #17 Tampa at 6 p.m. to conclude action in the 2017 Terrace Hotel Classic.
