ABERDEEN, S.D. – The #1 Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (13-3, 7-1 NSIC) dropped a hard fought road contests to #3 Northern State (15-1, 7-1 NSIC) in five sets (23-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-27, 12-15) on Friday night.
The Golden Bears saw their 10-match winning streak snapped as they dropped their first NSIC match of the season, moving into a tie at the top of the league with Northern State and Minnesota Duluth. The loss was also just CSP's second in their past 33 meetings with NSU, dropping them to 33-9 all-time with the Wolves.
It was a grind for both squads as CSP finished at .214 hitting with 75 kills while NSU finished even lower at .207 with 57 kills. Errors proved to be the difference as the Golden Bears tallied 32 hitting errors and 12 service errors in the match while NSU had 21 and four, respectively.
While Concordia was unable to pull out the victory,
Sara Macek provided a career night in the loss. Macek was a force with a career-best 26 kills while hitting an even .500 as she committed just three errors on her 46 swings. She also chipped in four blocks.
Joining Macek in double figures were
Brooklyn Lewis,
Erin Fallert and
Hope Schiller as the quartet combined for 66 kills on the night. Lewis put up 16 kills to go along with a career-high five blocks while both Fallert and Schiller collected double-doubles. Fallert finished with 13 kills and a career-best 21 digs while Schiller contributed 11 kills and 13 digs along with a pair of aces.
Elizabeth Mohr added another double-double with her second consecutive performance with 60+ assists and 10+ digs. She finished at 62 assists and 12 digs to go along with two aces.
Tori Hanson also chipped in 20 digs and five assists on the night.
Hailey Busch led a balanced NSU attack with 14 kills as well as 14 digs while four different Wolves players reached double figures in the win.
The Wolves ran out to an early lead in the opening set with a 9-3 run, putting the Golden Bears in an early hole. Concordia chipped away at the lead, cutting it in half at 12-9, but an 8-3 run in favor of NSU gave them their largest lead of the set at 20-12. Northern State looked poised to cruise to a comfortable set win as they forced set point at 24-17, but the Golden Bears survived six in a row to pull within a point at 24-23. A service error ended the streak as the Wolves held on to take the set 25-23.
The tables were turned in the second set as it was CSP that pulled ahead early, grabbing nine of the first 12 points. The lead remained three or above throughout the rest of the set as Concordia slowly pulled away. An 8-2 run turned a 10-7 lead into the Golden Bears' largest edge of the set at 18-9. The margin sat comfortably Concordia' favor the rest of the way as CSP evened the match with a 25-16 set win in the second.
The third set began with a back and forth start as neither team was able to build much of an advantage. Northern State pulled ahead by three at 8-5 and again at 11-8 before Concordia started to take over. Eight out of 10 points going to the Golden Bears gave CSP the lead for good as they built a 16-13 edge. NSU shrunk the gap back to one on several occasions before three straight points for Concordia stretched it back to four at 20-16. The Wolves once again cut into the lead as they closed to within one at 22-21 and 23-22, but two in a row for CSP closed out the set at 25-22.
There were five ties through the first 14 points in the fourth set before a 3-0 run for the Golden Bears made it 10-7. The Wolves threatened to even it up or take the lead throughout the middle of the set, but CSP held onto a slight lead until the 15-13 mark. Northern State shifted the momentum with three straight points as they finally pulled ahead at 16-15 before the two teams went back to trading points. There were nine more ties throughout the rest of the set as NSU forced set points at 24-23 and 25-24 before winning it 27-25 and forcing a fifth set.
It was Concordia that took the early lead in the fifth at 4-2, but that was short-lived as NSU rattled off three in a row to pull ahead 5-4. The Golden Bears regained the lead at 7-6, but the Wolves once again jumped back out front at 9-7 following another 3-0 burst. CSP tied it up at 9-9, 10-10, 11-11 and 12-12, but they would not score again as the final three went to Northern State as they finished off the match with a 15-12 set win.
Concordia remains on the road tomorrow with a 2 p.m. contest against MSU Moorhead. The Golden Bears then travel to #5 Minnesota Duluth on Tuesday night before returning home next weekend.
