ST. PAUL, Minn. – The #7 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (13-3, 7-1 NSIC) third straight match against a ranked opponent and fifth in a row overall as they defeated #24 Sioux Falls (11-5, 3-5 NSIC) in four sets (23-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-14) on Saturday night at Gangelhoff Center.
The Golden Bears continued a successful homecoming weekend on campus as volleyball went 2-0 on the weekend while soccer added a win on Friday night and football added another on Saturday afternoon. CSP improves to 11-5 in the all-time series with the Cougars with the win.
While it was the offense that led the way on Friday night, it was the defense that made the difference on Saturday as the Golden Bears held the Cougars to .174 or below in each of the four matches to finish the match at .118. USF committed 28 errors on their 161 swings while they collected 47 kills on the night. CSP finished the night at .200 as they collected 53 kills on 160 kills with 21 errors in the win. Concordia also held a 6-2 edge in aces while USF finished with 72 digs compared to 69 for CSP.
Tori Hanson paced all players with 25 digs in the win to give her 14 straight matches in double figures, including six with 20+.
Erin Fallert followed with 15 digs to go along with 12 kills for her 11
th double-double on the season.
Offensively,
Jasmine Mulvihill once again finished as the top producer with 16 kills in addition to eight digs while
Sara Macek and
Kennedy Brady each reached double digits with 10 kills apiece. Mulvihill and Macek each collected five blocks while Brady followed with four.
Payton Nutter contributed 49 assists on the team's 53 kills while also picking up seven digs in the win.
Kassandra Springer led Sioux Falls with 13 kills and 18 digs while Krista Goerger added a double-double with 40 assists and 10 digs in the loss.
After the Cougars jumped ahead 5-4 in the first, Concordia took control with six of the next seven to take a 10-6 lead early in the match. That lead would not last, however, as the next five in a row and nine of 11 to take the lead for good. Concordia managed to battle their way back to within one at 23-22 following a 3-0 run and remained within one at 24-23, but a USF kill gave the Cougars a first set victory.
After a fairly even start to the second, the Golden Bears started to pull away midway through as they scored three straight points to turn an 8-7 run deficit into a 10-8 lead. After the Cougars closed the gap to one at 14-13, CSP strung together four straight as a part of a bigger 8-1 run to jump out to a 22-14 edge. The lead would not shrink below five the rest of the way as Concordia took the set 25-18.
Concordia poured it on early in the third as they responded to two straight points for USF to start the set with six in a row to build a quick four-point lead. That lead grew to six at 13-7 and sat comfortably in CSP's favor as late as 21-16 before the Cougars crept their way back to within one at 23-22 and again at 24-23, but a service error brought the set to a close as Concordia took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-23 set win.
It was another strong start in the fourth for the Golden Bears as they scored six of seven as they held a lead of four throughout the rest of the set. With Sioux Falls still within four at 10-6, the Golden Bears put it out of reach for good with seven straight and 10 of 11 to balloon the lead to 13 at 20-7. The Cougars made a bit of a late push, but it was not enough as CSP closed out the four-set win with a 25-14 win in the fourth.
Concordia will look to carry their winning ways on the road as they travel to #19 Winona State on Tuesday night and Minot State and UMary on the weekend.
