DENVER, Colo. – The top-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (7-1) saw their winning streak snapped at 26 as they fell to #2 Southwest Minnesota State (8-0) in the Colorado Premier Challenge championship match on Saturday night. CSP bounced back after dropping the first set 25-19 to win the second by the same score, but the Mustangs took the third set 25-22 and the fourth set 27-25.
 
The last team to beat the Golden Bears in 2016 became the first team to beat them in 2017 as the program's second longest winning streak and third streak of 25 or more straight wins ends at 26. The loss was Concordia's first in 331 days with the last loss to the Mustangs coming back on Oct. 14, 2016 in St. Paul. The loss also drops CSP to 33-24-1 in 58 all-time meetings with SMSU.
 
The Golden Bears had five members of the squad named to the All-Tournament Team as Elizabeth Mohr, Brooklyn Lewis, Sara Macek, Tori Hanson and Mariya Sampson were all selected. SMSU's Taylor Reiss was named Tournament MVP.
 
The high-powered Mustang attack proved to be too much for CSP as they registered in at .232 or better in all four sets to finish the match with a hitting percentage of .293 as a team. The Golden Bears also finished with marks of .263 or better in each of the final three sets en route to a mark of .240 overall, but it wasn't enough to claim the win. While efficiency favored SMSU, Concordia did manage to maintain an edge of 65-63 in kills and 80-68 in digs while matching Southwest Minnesota State's six aces in the match.
 
Tori Hanson continued her solid weekend statistically as she tacked on 22 digs in the match, giving her three matches in a row with at least 20 digs. Overall for the weekend, the freshman averaged 4.88 digs per set to lead the team. Erin Fallert and Hope Schiller joined in double figures in digs with 15 and 13, respectively, with Schiller also falling a kill short of a double-double with nine.
 
Offensively, all five of CSP's hitter collected at least nine kills, with four reaching double digits. It was once again the duo of Mariya Sampson and Brooklyn Lewis that led the way as they each tallied 16 kills while Sara Macek had 13 and Shelby Seurer had 10. Seurer was the most efficient of the bunch with a .471 hitting percentage on the night while Sampson also chipped in seven digs.
 
Elizabeth Mohr fell a dig short of a double-double with 57 assists and nine digs as she once again broke the 50-assist threshold in the match.
 
Taylor Reiss was fed early and often for the Mustangs as she finished with a staggering 61 swings while grabbing match-best 18 kills. Megan Larson contributed 55 assists and eight digs while Erin Corrigan paced SMSU with 21 digs in the win.
 
The Mustangs came out firing by grabbing the first three points and six of seven to jump ahead early. The SMSU lead continued to grow from there as it hit nine at 14-5 and again at 15-6 before CSP stemmed the tide. Concordia was unable to string together any runs for the remainder of the set, however, as the lead remained five or above for SMSU en route to a 25-19 final score in the first.
 
After an even start in the second set, it was Concordia's turn to build a lead as they used a 7-2 burst to extend a 10-9 lead to 17-11 midway through the set. SMSU cut the lead in half with three straight points, but the Golden Bears quickly pushed it back to a comfortable margin with four in a row. CSP rolled from there as they evened the match at 1-1 by matching the final in the first at 25-19.
 
CSP found themselves playing catch up early in the third set as they erased four different SMSU leads through the first 22 points. The Golden Bears shifted the momentum in their favor with a big 6-0 run to turn an 11-9 deficit into a 15-11 lead for their first advantage of the set, but they were unable to hang on as the Mustangs chipped away from there. Concordia's lead sat at five at 19-14 before Southwest Minnesota State stormed back with five straight points to even it back up at 19-19. The two teams traded the next five points to give CSP a 22-21 advantage, but it was all SMSU from there as they took the final four points to win the set 25-22.
 
It was the Golden Bears who took the first lead in the fourth as they scored four of the first five and maintained a three point lead at 7-4, but the Mustangs closed the gap to set up a very tight finish in the set. The middle of the set featured eight ties as the two teams traded points until a 3-0 run gave Southwest Minnesota State an 18-15 edge. Concordia battled back to force set points at 24-23 and again at 25-24, but the final three points went to the Mustangs to finish off the victory in four with a 27-25 set win.
 
Concordia returns to action this Thursday in their NSIC home opener as they play host to Upper Iowa at 7 p.m. They will then travel to Winona State on the weekend.