ST. PAUL, Minn. – The sixth-ranked Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (22-7, 16-4 NSIC) closed out the regular season with a sweep of Bemidji State (7-21, 4-16 NSIC) on Senior Night at Gangelhoff Center.
 
With the win, the Golden Bears finished in a tie for second in the NSIC with Minnesota Duluth as Northern State edged the two programs by a game to secure the outright regular season title. CSP, who will be the third seed due to head-to-head results with UMD, will face sixth-seeded Winona State in the opening round of the NSIC Tournament on Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Sanford Pentagon.
 
The Golden Bears also improved to 35-8-1 in the all-time series as they won their 33^rd in a row against Bemidji State.
 
It was an impressive all-around performance for the Golden Bears as they hit an efficient .377 with massive 18.33 kills per set while holding the Beavers to .093 hitting with just 22 total kills. CSP added a 7.0-2.0 edge in blocks as well as a 47-29 edge in digs on the night.
 
Jasmine Mulvihill finished off a dominant individual conference campaign as she claimed the crown as NSIC kills leader with 4.68 kills per set in the 20 league matches. She finished in style with 20 kills in just three sets (6.67 per set) while hitting .441.
 
Erin Fallert added a double-double with 11 kills and a team-best 14 digs while Tori Hanson followed close behind with 13 digs and Makenna Berger added 10. Payton Nutter led the offense with 42 assists while Ellie Veldman added six of her own.
 
Julie Touchett finished with a team-high eight kills for the Beavers in the loss.
 
The Golden Bears set the tone with a strong start as they scored the first four points of the match, but the Beavers quickly answered with the next five and seven of eight to take a lead of their own at 7-5. BSU still held the lead at 8-7, but CSP grabbed the lead for good with the next three in a row. The lead reached five at 16-11 following a 5-1 run a few points later before as the Golden Bears held a comfortable lead the rest of the way. It grew to as many as eight as CSP went on to win it 25-17.
 
A 4-1 run to start the second set once again gave the Golden Bears an early lead as they remained out front nearly throughout. The advantage grew to six at 10-4 following a 5-1 run before eventually ballooning all the way to double figures at 23-13 with another 6-2 burst. Concordia won the set by the same margin at 25-15 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
After an even start in the third, the Beavers grabbed five of six to jump ahead 9-6. CSP jumped back in front with four in a row before the two teams fought for the lead. In total, there were nine ties in the set, including one as late as 14-14, before Concordia took the lead for good with nine of the next 11. The Golden Bears went on to finish off the sweep by winning the set 25-17.