ST. PAUL, Minn. – The sixth-ranked Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (19-4, 13-2 NSIC) continued their strong run of form as they picked up their sixth straight win and 11^th in the past 12 with a sweep (25-21, 25-10, 25-15) of #22 Upper Iowa (16-7, 8-7 NSIC) on Saturday night at Gangelhoff Center.
 
The Golden Bears kept pace with Minnesota Duluth and Northern State at the top of the conference as all three schools head into the final five NSIC matches with records of 13-2 in league play. CSP also remained unbeaten against the Peacocks as they made it 19 wins in 19 tries against the Peacocks, including a 9-0 mark in St. Paul.
 
It was an all-around dominant performance for Concordia as they controlled play in nearly every area in the win. CSP's block once again caused problems for their opponent as they tallied 11.0 total blocks while holding UIU to just 29 kills and an .075 hitting percentage. The Golden Bear offense finished with 46 kills and a solid .310 hitting percentage on the other side of the net as they also held a 5-0 edge in service aces.
 
The duo of Jasmine Mulvihill and Kennedy Brady played a major role in the strong play at the net as both finished with eight blocks on the night. Mulvihill added a team-best 14 kills as well as four digs while Brady hit .412 with seven kills.
 
Erin Fallert joined Mulvihill in double figures with 11 kills to go along with 15 digs to finish with her 14^th double-double of the year. Payton Nutter contributed a double-double of her own with 42 assists and 10 digs while Tori Hanson paced the squad with 18 digs in the win.
 
Carlee Ketchum put up a double-double in the loss for Upper Iowa with 23 assists and 13 digs while Kaitlin Niedert led the team with 10 kills on the night.
 
Concordia wasted little time building a comfortable lead in the opening set with six of the first seven points, but Upper Iowa came firing right back with six in a row to take a lead of their own. UIU remained in the lead at 11-10 before a 7-3 run put CSP in front 17-14. The Peacocks managed to battle back to tie the score at 20-20, but they were only able to muster one more point in the set as the Golden Bears surged to take the set 25-21.
 
It was a similarly strong start in the second for CSP as they started on a 6-2 run before Upper Iowa shrunk the gap to two at 8-6. It was all Concordia from there, however, as they grabbed 11 of 13 to build a double-digit edge before finishing on a 6-0 run to cruise to a 25-10 set win to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The run continued in the third set as the Golden Bears scored the first four in a row before pushing the advantage to eight at 11-3. The lead reached double figures at 17-6 and ballooned to as many as 13 at 22-9 and again at 23-10 before a late run made the final margin a little closer at 25-15.
 
Concordia will look to keep things rolling on Tuesday night as they remain at home for a 6 p.m. meeting with Winona State.