DENVER, Colo. – The #1 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (6-0) remained unbeaten as they bounced back from a set one loss to take the final three sets against #3 Lewis (5-1) on Friday night in the Colorado Premier Challenge. After dropping the first set 25-17, CSP took the final three sets 25-22, 25-11 and 25-18.
The Golden Bears now advance to the Gold Bracket semifinals and will face #6 Angelo State tomorrow on the campus of MSU Denver at 12:30 p.m. The winner of that contest will advance to the tournament title match tomorrow night at 8 p.m., also at MSU Denver. CSP will be looking for their sixth Colorado Premier Challenge title after winning it previously in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2016.
The win gives Concordia a 5-0 record against the Flyers as the two teams met for the third time in the past two seasons, including in the national semifinals last fall. In addition, the Golden Bears move to 6-0 overall for the seventh time under head coach
Brady Starkey, including the second time in as many seasons.
It was once again the defense that shined as CSP ground the Flyer attack to a halt, holding them to .063 in the match, including negative marks in each of the final two sets. Efficiency was hard to come by offensively for the Golden Bears as well as they finished at .161 as a team, clearing .200 in just one of the four sets. Despite dropping the match, Lewis did manage to hold an edge in digs (66-61) as well as aces (4-2) in the loss.
While the afternoon match saw four Golden Bears finish in double figures in kills, it was
Brooklyn Lewis who paced the squad in the nightcap as she led all players with a career-best 17 kills to go along with three blocks. Lewis was joined in double figures by
Mariya Sampson, who collected 12 kills with a .333 hitting percentage.
Elizabeth Mohr helped the effort both offensively and defensively by picking up her first double-double of the season with 37 assists and 10 digs in the win. While Mohr registered in with double digit digs, it was
Tori Hanson that really carried the load in the back row. The freshman shattered her previous best in her young career with a match-best 24 digs while also chipping in five assists as well.
Maddie Seliga paced Lewis with 13 kills and 15 digs while Alexandra Preuss also contributed a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs in the loss.
The Flyers jumped on CSP right from the start in the first set as they took four of the first five points and six of the first eight to build a comfortable lead early. From there, the Golden Bears clawed their way back to tie it up at 10-10, but Lewis quickly shifted the momentum back in their favor with a 6-0 burst. The Flyer lead continued to grow from there as it hit nine at 23-14 before they closed it out 25-17 to hand CSP their first first set loss of the season.
Lewis picked up where they left off in the second set with a 4-1 run to begin, but CSP turned it around with four straight points to take the lead. The two teams jostled to pull out front until midway through the set when Concordia scored four in a row to turn a 10-8 deficit into a 12-10 lead to take the lead for good. After CSP extended the lead out to four, the Flyers cut it to one at 18-17 and again at 22-21 and 23-22, but that would be as close as they would get as the Golden Bears held on to take the set 25-22 and even the match at 1-1.
The Golden Bears wasted little time putting it out of reach in the third set as they did not trail the entire set after scoring seven of the first nine points. The lead reached seven as the Golden Bears doubled up the Flyers at 14-7 before Lewis cut it to five at 16-11, but it was all Concordia from there as they took the final nine points to win the set 25-11.
After the two teams traded points early in the fourth set, the Golden Bears once again took control. An extended 9-3 run turned a 6-6 tie into a 15-9 lead for CSP as they held onto that advantage the rest of the way. The Flyers threatened by cutting it down to three at 17-14, but Concordia finished strong to take the set 25-18 to close out the four-set win.
