KEARNEY, Neb. – The fourth-seeded #9 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (23-8) advances to the NCAA Central Region semifinals with a five-set win (22-25, 25-22, 25-16, 22-25, 16-14) over fifth-seeded #7 Southwest Minnesota State (23-9) on Thursday night on the campus of Nebraska-Kearney.
 
The Golden Bears will face eighth-seeded Harding on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. for a chance to earn a trip to region championship. Concordia lost their lone meeting in the all-time series against Harding all the way back in 2002.
 
Concordia improves to 68-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 16-0 in opening round matches with the win. The win was CSP's 13^th in a row in the tourney overall as they head into Friday night's match looking to reach the NCAA Central Region Championship for the 15^th time in 16 seasons under Brady Starkey. The Golden Bears also improve to 3-1 in the season series against SMSU as the Golden Bears move to 37-26-1 in series history.
 
"We play in a tough conference and a tough region and this was a tough matchup to have in the first round," said Starkey of facing the Mustangs. He added, "I thought we did a good job scrapping for balls defensively. We haven't done a fantastic job of that all year, but this is about the best we've played defensively this season."

Against a formidable Mustang squad, the Golden Bear offense had to grind it out as they tallied 75 kills with a .230 hitting percentage in the win. Elizabeth Mohr assisted on 68 of the 73 kills as she reached the 60+ assist plateau for the sixth time on the season. Mohr also chipped in 10 digs and a pair of aces to pick up her seventh double-double on the year.
 
Mohr, the 2017 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, said, "Experience plays a big role in helping us embrace the moment. Last year's experience helped us tonight and helped us let go and play freely."

It was a memorable night for senior Brooklyn Lewis as she joined the 1,000 kill club with her first kill of the night before adding 18 more to lead the team with 19 in the win. Lewis became the 21^st player at CSP to reach 1,000 career kills and the first since former teammate Mariya Sampson reached the mark during last season's NCAA Central Region Tournament.
 
Lewis was one of four Concordia hitters to reach double figures in kills as Hope Schiller had 18, Sara Macek had 17 and Kennedy Brady had 13. Schiller added 23 digs to collect a massive double-double while Macek collected eight of her 17 kills in a huge second set. Brady led all players with a .345 hitting percentage as well.
 
Speaking about playing on the road in the postseason, Macek said, "It's always tougher being on the road with the long bus ride and sitting in the hotel, but it's fun playing in someone else's gym and having their energy and their fans there."

While four players reached double digits in kills, CSP had five in double figures in digs as it was a team effort on the defensive end. Tori Hanson paced all players with 29 digs to give the team two with 20+ along with Schiller while Erin Fallert had 15, Taylor Soine had 10 and Mohr had 10.
 
A day after being named the Central Region Player of the Year for the third consecutive season, SMSU's Taylor Reiss's career came to a close as the dominant outside hitter tied for a match high with 20 kills to go along with eight digs. Angela Young matched Reiss with 20 kills while Kaylee Burmeister led the Mustangs with 29 digs in the loss.
 
After the Golden Bears started the match with the first point, the Mustangs scored five in a row to take the lead early. SMSU pushed their lead to five at 8-3 before CSP responded with three straight to cut it to two, but the Mustangs continued to hold a slight lead. Another 3-0 run a few points later cut it to one at 11-10 for Concordia, but an extended 7-4 run for Southwest Minnesota State had the lead back out to four at 18-14 to force a CSP timeout. The Golden Bears responded in a big as they tied it up with four straight points, but were unable to get over the hump as SMSU came back with a 3-0 run of their own a few points later to make it 22-19. The two teams traded points the rest of the way as SMSU took the first set 25-22.
 
An early 3-0 run had SMSU right back out front in the second set as they built a 6-3 advantage, but the Golden Bears answered with five of the next six to take their first lead since the first point of the match. With Concordia still leading at 9-8, the Mustangs regained their edge with a 4-1 run to make it 12-10 in their favor. CSP really turned it on from there as they jumped back out front at 14-13 before growing it to six at 20-14 following a 6-0 run entirely comprised of Macek kills. Southwest Minnesota State chipped away to pull within two at 22-20 and again at 24-22 before Lewis put it away at 25-22 with a kill.
 
Concordia picked up where they left off to start the third as they wasted little time building a comfortable advantage with the first three points and six of the first seven. CSP's edge reached six at 9-3 to force a quick SMSU timeout before they poured it on even more to make it 14-6 and force another. The Golden Bear lead reached nine at 17-8 and again at 20-11 before the Mustangs started to claw their way back in it. A 5-1 run back Southwest Minnesota State back within five at 21-16, but that's all the closer they would get as CSP took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-16 set win.
 
After an even start to the fourth in which neither team was able to string together much of a run, SMSU built a three point edge at 9-6 following two kills in a row for the Mustangs. Southwest Minnesota State continued to maintain a slim advantage until the 14-11 mark when the Golden Bears put together a 4-0 run to take the lead, but three in a row the other way had SMSU back out front at 17-15. Another 3-0 lead had the Southwest Minnesota State lead out to four at 20-16 before CSP cut it to one at 22-21, but the Mustangs finished strong with three of four to win the set 25-22.
 
The Golden Bears came out firing with the first four points of the fifth set as they held a comfortable lead for much of the early portion of the set before the Mustangs came storming back. Still up four at 7-3, SMSU responded with a huge 5-1 run to tie it up at 8-8. Concordia answered with a big run of their own with three straight to regain their advantage at 11-8. The dramatics did not end there as Southwest Minnesota State kept it close before erasing back-to-back set points to tie it up at 14-14. CSP rebounded, however, as they grabbed the final two points to pull out the five-set win with a 16-14 victory in the fifth.