LAKELAND, Fla. – The top-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (1-0) opened the season in impressive fashion with a sweep of #12 Western Washington (0-1) in the 2017 Terrace Hotel Classic. CSP took the first two sets 25-22 and the third set 27-25.
 
The Golden Bears claimed their eighth season-opening victory in the last nine years as they improved to 13-2 in openers under head coach Brady Starkey. The win also pushes CSP to 4-0 all-time against the Vikings as CSP has won 12 of 13 sets against WWU.
 
Despite the three-set sweep, the two teams were fairly evenly matched statistically as CSP held slight advantages in most categories. Concordia finished with an efficient .311 hitting percentage as a team (51 kills and 14 attack errors on 119 attempts) while Western Washington finished at .286 (44-12-112) for the match. CSP also held a slim 46-45 edge in digs as well as a 5.0-3.0 edge in blocks. An area that the Golden Bears took advantage was in serving as they collected five service aces with four errors while WWU collected just one ace and committed five errors.
 
Offensively, a trio of upperclassmen finished in double figures in kills to pace a balanced attack. Brooklyn Lewis led the team with a career-high 13 kills while Mariya Sampson followed close behind with 12 and Hope Schiller added career-best 11. Lewis finished with an efficient .400 hitting percentage while Sampson chipped in 2.0 blocks and Schiller picked up six digs. Shelby Seurer joined in the attack with an impressive .538 hitting percentage while tallying eight kills.
 
Behind the balanced attack was setter Elizabeth Mohr. Mohr guided the efficient attack with 48 assists to go along with five digs in the win.
 
While the upperclassmen did the heavy lifting on offense, a pair of freshmen led the team in the back as Erin Fallert grabbed 13 digs and Tori Hanson added nine in their collegiate debuts. Taylor Soine also helped the cause with eight digs in the back.
 
Abby Phelps provided a bright spot for the Vikings as she led all players with 19 kills while Joellee Buckner chipped in 13 digs in the match.
 
The Vikings jumped ahead early by grabbing the first four points of the set, but the Golden Bears quickly responded with nine of the next 10 points to build a four-point lead of their own at 9-5. WWU scored the next two points to cut the lead in half and remained within two at 13-11 before CSP took their largest lead of the set with three in a row to make it 16-11. The lead momentarily changed hands as Western Washington rattled off a 7-1 run to pull ahead 18-17, but it wouldn't last long as the next three went in favor of Concordia to give them the lead for good. The separation remained at one at 20-19 and again at 21-20 before CSP pulled away to take the first set 25-22.
 
While the first set war fairly even, the second set was even more so with eight ties and three lead changes. After an early deadlock, WWU was once again first to build a lead larger than two as they pulled ahead 12-9. That lead held until the 15-15 mark as the Golden Bears pulled even for the first time since a 6-6 tie. The next four points were alternated as it remained tied at 17-17 before Concordia took the decisive lead with three straight points. Western Washington would not pull closer than two the rest of the way as CSP took the second set by the same margin at 25-22 to build a 2-0 advantage in the match.
 
The back and forth play continued early in the third set with the two teams trading points until the 9-9 mark midway through, but the Golden Bears started to take control from there with four of the next five points. Another three point burst a few points later extended the lead to 17-12 to give them their largest lead of the set, but the Vikings battled back to make things interesting late. The lead remained at four at 23-19 before WWU took the next three points and five of the next six to even the score at 24-24. Concordia had match point turned away twice before finally sealed the season-opening sweep by taking the set 27-25.
 
The Golden Bears are back in action at 6 p.m. tonight as they take on Florida Southern in their second of four contests in the 2017 Terrace Hotel Classic.