MARSHALL, Minn. – The #1 Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (21-5, 15-2 NSIC) dropped the final three sets in a four-set loss (25-18, 19-25, 15-25, 18-25) at Southwest Minnesota State (18-7, 13-4 NSIC) as the Golden Bears saw their seven match winning streak snapped on Friday night.
Starting the night with a one game lead in the NSIC standings heading down the final stretch, CSP maintained their lead despite the loss as Northern State dropped their second match in a row. Minnesota Duluth pulled even with the Wolves at 14-3, one game behind the Golden Bears, in league play with the win over NSU while SMSU pulled within two at 14-4.
The loss drops Concordia to 36-26-1 in the all-time series with the Mustangs as SMSU picked up just their ninth win in 34 meetings in Northern Sun play. Southwest Minnesota State also cut into the CSP lead in the season series as they grabbed their first win in three meetings on the year.
The Mustang offense, headlined by reigning National Player of the Year Taylor Reiss, was too much for the Golden Bears to handle as they finished with 62 kills and just 14 errors on 135 swings for a .356 hitting percentage. Reiss had over twice as many kills than any other player in the match as she registered a staggering 32 kills on 71 attempts to collect a .366 hitting percentage.
Angela Young also reached double figures for SMSU with 11 kills. Emma Thomssen added 51 assists while Kaylee Burmeister picked up a match-best 15 digs.
Sara Macek led the Golden Bears with 14 kills while committing just a single error to hit .565 while
Brooklyn Lewis followed close behind with 12 to go along with 12 digs for her third consecutive double-double.
Tori Hanson chipped in 11 digs while
Hope Schiller added 10 digs in the loss.
Elizabeth Mohr finished with 42 assists as well.
The two teams traded points in the early going in the opening set before a 3-0 run for the Golden Bears turned a 10-9 lead into a 13-9 lead. The Mustangs pulled back to within two at 14-12, but another run, this time a 5-1 burst for CSP put it out of reach at 19-13. The lead remained five or more the rest of the way and grew to as many as eight at 24-16 before Concordia closed it out at 25-18.
The momentum shifted in the second set as a quick 5-3 lead for the Golden Bears turned into an 11-8 lead for the Mustangs following an extended 8-3 run. The margin remained within a few points until a 5-1 run for SMSU pushed it out to 19-13. CSP shrunk the gap back to three at 20-17 but were unable to get any closer as Southwest Minnesota State evened the match at 1-1 by winning the set 25-19.
SMSU continued to pour it on in the third set with five of the first six points before continuing to grow their lead from there. Concordia closed to within one at 10-9 following three straight points before the Mustangs rattled off a massive 12-1 run to build their largest lead of the set at 22-10. The Golden Bears responded with the next four in a row but managed just one more point at Southwest Minnesota State took the set 25-15.
After seeing Concordia score the first point of the fourth set, Southwest Minnesota State took the lead for good with six of the next seven points. The Golden Bears clawed their way back to within two at 12-10 but were unable to pull any closer as three in a row for SMSU made it 15-10. The Mustang lead reached nine at 23-14 and again 24-15 before they finished off the match with a 25-18 set win in the fourth.
The Golden Bears will look to get back on track tomorrow afternoon at Sioux Falls in their final road conference match of the season. First serve is scheduled for 4 p.m.
