WAYNE, Neb. – The #7 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (11-3, 5-1 NSIC) held on for a five-set win (25-17, 25-12, 23-25, 19-25, 15-10) over #15 Wayne State (13-2, 4-2 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Golden Bears continued their recent success against the Wildcats as they picked their 33^rd win in the past 38 meetings while moving to 15-3 all-time in Wayne.
 
Concordia's offensive output told the story of the match as they finished with hitting percentages of .324, .378 and .346 in the three sets they won while being limited to .065 and .085 in the two sets they lost. Overall, CSP finished with a massive 71 kills, matching their season high, on a .218 hitting percentage on the day. The Golden Bear defense also limited the WSC offense to less than 10 kills in each of their three set wins as they held the Wildcats to 43 kills and a .176 hitting percentage in the match. Concordia also held a massive 10-4 edge in aces as well as a 101-85 advantage in digs. CSP reached triple digits in digs as a team for the first time since tallying 104 against Ferris State on Sept. 12, 2015.
 
While it's been a long time since the Golden Bears finished with over 100 digs in a match, it's been even longer since they had a player collected 20+ kills and 20+ digs in the same match. Jasmine Mulvihill did just that as she comfortably set career highs with 23 kills and 21 digs in a massive effort. Her 20-20 performance was the first in program history since Megan Carlson collected 21 kills and 23 digs at Augustana on Oct. 25, 2011. Mulvihill also contributed four aces to the winning effort.
 
It was a similarly historic effort for Erin Fallert as she became just the second player at CSP to register 33 digs in a match in the 25-point scoring format. She joined teammate Tori Hanson, who put up 34 digs just over a year ago on Sept. 22, 2018 at SMSU, as the only two players since 2007 to register the feat. Fallert also matched her season best with 18 kills in addition to her 33 digs to add her ninth double-double of the year and third in a row.
 
Tori Hanson also chipped in a big night in the back row with 24 digs while Makenna Berger added 12 digs and nine kills as well. Sara Macek joined Mulvihill and Fallert in double figures in kills with 14 as she led the team with a .440 hitting percentage.
 
Adding to the career days, Payton Nutter reached 60 assists for the first time of her career as she flew past her previous best of 45. She also chipped in eight digs in the win.
 
Hope Carter led the Wildcats with 24 digs while Katie Stephens had 12 kills and Alyssa Ballenger had 10 kills in the loss.
 
The Golden Bears found themselves in an early hole as WSC scored four of the first five points of the match, but they quickly answered to take the lead. CSP pulled ahead at 6-5 before pushing it to three at 11-8. The lead continued to grow from there as it reached five at 17-12 before growing to as many as nine at 23-14 in the 25-17 set win in the first.
 
The Wildcats opened with the first two points to open the second set, but Concordia picked up where they left off in the opening set from there as they responded with a 9-1 run to take the lead for good. With the lead at five at 11-6, the Golden Bears put it out of reach with a 7-0 run to grow their lead to a dozen. The CSP lead would not shrink below nine the rest of the set as they went on to win it 25-12 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
It was more of the same early in the third set for CSP as they scored six of the first eight to take the lead. The lead reached five a couple of points later at 8-3 before WSC responded with five in a row to tie it up. Concordia regained control with six of the next seven before maintaining a slim lead pretty much throughout. The Golden Bear advantage grew to as many as six at 17-11 and it sat at five at 22-17, but the Wildcats would not go away as they finished the set on an 8-1 run to win it 25-23 and force a fourth set.
 
The run carried over into the fourth set for Wayne State as they scored five of the first six before pushing their lead to six at 10-4. The lead grew as large as eight at 14-6 and 15-7 before CSP made it interesting late. The Golden Bears managed to close the gap to three several times down the stretch, but the Wildcats did allow them to pull any closer as they forced a fifth set with a 25-19 win in the fourth.
 
Concordia found themselves down 4-1 to open the decisive fifth set, but they quickly took the lead with the next four points in a row. WSC jumped back in front with three straight points the other way, but the momentum shifted back in favor of the Golden Bears a couple points later as a 6-0 run gave CSP a 13-8 lead. The two teams split the final four points as Concordia held on to win the fifth set 15-10.
 
CSP returns home next weekend as they play host to #8 Southwest Minnesota State and #19 Sioux Falls.