ST. PAUL, Minn. – The #3 Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (20-4, 15-1 NSIC) picked up their sixth consecutive victory with a four-set win (25-15, 21-25, 25-17, 25-23) over St. Cloud State (12-9, 8-7 NSIC) on Pink Night at Gangelhoff Center.
Concordia improved to 26-1 in the all-time series against SCSU as the Golden Bears have won every meeting since 1975. The win was also CSP's sixth win overall this season as they remained even atop the NSIC standings with top-ranked Northern State at 14-1.
The Golden Bears came out swinging in the opening set as they hammered out a .571 hitting percentage but were forced to grind it out the rest of the way as they hit .257 or lower in the final three sets to finish the match at .259. While the offense was slowed over the final three sets, it was the defense that picked up the slack as they held the Huskies to a .130 hitting percentage or below in the three sets they won, including a mark of just .087 in the decisive fourth set. Overall, the team managed a 66-43 edge in kills as well as an 81-62 edge in digs and an 8-2 edge in service aces.
The duo of
Sara Macek and
Hope Schiller played a major role in the team's win as Macek paced all players with 20 kills and a .400 hitting percentage while Schiller collected the double-double with 16 kills and a match-high 22 digs. The 20-kill outburst was Macek's third match with 20+ on the season as she extended her streak to 10 straight with double figures in kills. Schiller, meanwhile, registered her first career effort with at least 15 kills and at least 20 digs in the win.
Brooklyn Lewis added another double-double, the first of her career, as she finished with 10 kills and a career-best 13 digs while
Elizabeth Mohr fell one dig short with 62 assists and nine digs. The 13 digs were four more than Lewis' previous career high while Mohr reached 60 assists for the fourth time this year.
Tori Hanson joined Schiller in surpassing 20+ digs as she collected 21 digs while
Taylor Soine added 12 of her own as well as two aces.
Sydney Book also chipped in 13 kills.
Rachel Houle filled the stat sheet for the Huskies as she finished the night with 10 kills, 13 digs, five blocks and two aces in the loss.
CSP quickly pulled out front with three of the first four and seven of the first 10 points to open the match. The Huskies cut the gap in half and closed to within two at 11-9, but another 7-3 run for the Golden Bears pushed it to six at 18-12 to force an SCSU timeout. The margin sat at five at 20-15 before CSP rattled off five in a row to win the set 25-15.
St. Cloud State put the Golden Bears in a deep early hole in the second set by scoring the first six points, but CSP clawed their way back in it from there. With the lead at seven at 12-5 for SCSU, Concordia strung together a 5-1 run to chip away to within three midway through the set. At the 16-12 mark, the Golden Bears put together another run, this time a 5-0 run, to take their first lead of the set at 17-16. Two points later with the CSP still leading by a point at 18-17, the Huskies answered back with five of the next six to take back the lead at 22-19. SCSU didn't stop there as they grabbed three of the final five points to win the set 25-21 and even the match at 1-1.
With the two teams trading points to open the third set, St. Cloud State took a 10-8 lead with a 3-0 run to turn the tide in their favor. Concordia responded with four in a row to gain a two point lead of their own before adding a 3-0 run a few points later to pull ahead 17-13. After the Huskies scored a point to cut it back to three, the CSP lead ballooned all the way to eight with a 5-0 burst for the Golden Bears. Concordia went to take the set in a comfortable fashion at 25-17.
The Huskies doubled up CSP in the early going in the fourth set at 6-3, but Concordia quickly responded with the next five to take the lead for themselves. From there, the set featured eight ties from the 9-9 mark to the 17-17 mark with neither team able to take control. The Golden Bears followed with a huge 5-0 run to pull within three points of winning the match, but SCSU kept things interesting with six of the next eight to cut it to just one at 24-23. Concordia finished the job with a Macek kill as they closed it out with a 25-23 win in the fourth.
The Golden Bears return to the court tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. for a huge contest as they host #7 St. Cloud State for Roast the Dogs. The first 200 fans in attendance will receive a free hot dog.
