ST. PAUL, Minn. – The #2 Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (10-1, 3-0 NSIC) bounced back from a tough first set to defeat Minnesota State (6-5, 0-3 NSIC) in four sets on Tuesday night at Gangelhoff Center. The Mavericks took the opening set 25-22 before CSP took the final three sets 25-19, 25-22 and 25-17.
The Golden Bears made it nine straight wins over Minnesota State as they improved to 27-4 overall and 14-0 on their home court against the Mavericks.
It was a grind for Concordia as they managed to claim the victory despite being out-hit (.187-.182), out-dug (60-57) and out-blocked (10.0-6.0) in the match. CSP did, however, edge the Mavericks in service aces (10-8) while committing less service errors (8-9) in the win. They also finished with 11 more kills than MSU with a margin of 53-42.
For the sixth match in a row and the seventh match this season,
Brooklyn Lewis led the Golden Bears in kills as she amassed 15 kills on 29 swings to give her a match-best hitting percentage of .379. Her 15 kills also mark the sixth consecutive mark she has reached 15+ as her season average moved to 3.44 kills per set.
Lewis was one of four Golden Bears in double figures as
Mariya Sampson,
Hope Schiller and
Sara Macek also reached the mark. Sampson finished with 13 kills while Schiller and Macek each had 10. In addition to her 10 kills, Schiller grabbed her third double-double on the year with 12 digs as well as three aces and two blocks in a solid stat line.
Pacing Concordia in digs was
Taylor Soine with 13 while
Erin Fallert chipped in 10 more. Fallert also added three aces.
Elizabeth hit the half century mark for the ninth time in 11 matches and fifth time in a row as she collected 50 assists to go along with three aces, three digs and two blocks.
Sydney Powell put together a big night for the Mavericks as she paced all players with 16 kills and five blocks while she also picked up 14 digs to finish with a massive double-double in the loss.
Neither team was able to build much of a lead early with seven ties through the first 18 points to make the score 9-9. CSP briefly took a two-point advantage following a 3-0 run to make it 11-9, but four points the opposite way gave the Mavericks a 13-11 edge of their own. The Golden Bears regained the lead briefly at 16-15 with another 3-0 burst and pushed the lead to two at 18-16 before MSU answered back again. Four straight points moved MSU out front 22-18 as they held the lead the rest of the set to take it 25-22.
The second set began in much of the same way until Concordia rattled off four points in a row to turn a 6-5 deficit into a 9-6 lead. The lead remained three at 11-8 before the Mavericks tied it up with three straight, but the Golden Bears answered back with three of their own to make it 14-11 to take the lead for good. Minnesota State managed to keep it close until the closing stages as CSP finished the set on a 4-0 run to win it 25-19.
With the Mavericks holding an 11-10 lead midway through the third, the Golden Bears completely took control. CSP strung together an impressive 7-0 run to take a 17-11 lead before eventually expanding their lead out to eight at 22-14. That large advantage shrunk quickly as eight of the next 10 went to Minnesota State to close the margin to two at 24-22 before CSP grabbed the decisive point to take it 25-22.
Concordia wasted little time building a big lead in the fourth set as they scored six of the first seven points to quickly build a five-point advantage at 6-1. That margin would be more than enough as it did not shrink below three for the rest of the set. CSP's lead would eventually hit seven at 15-8 before growing to as many as nine before settling with a 25-17 set win to close out the match.
The Golden Bears remain home this weekend for a pair of matches as they host Minot State on Friday at 6 p.m. and U-Mary on Saturday at 2 p.m.
