ST. PAUL, Minn. – The #6 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (20-4, 14-2 NSIC) picked up their ninth win over a ranked opponent on the season with a four-set win (25-20, 15-25, 25-23, 25-23) over #16 Winona State (18-6, 10-6 NSIC) on Tuesday night.
 
Concordia evened the season series at 1-1 with the win as they improved to 33-9 in 42 meetings with the Warriors, including a 20-1 mark in St. Paul. CSP also kept pace at the top of the NSIC standings as they remained in a three-way tie with Minnesota Duluth and Northern State at 14-2 with four matches to go in league play.
 
While it was the Golden Bears that came out on top in three of the four sets, it was the Warriors that held an edge in quite a few statistical categories as they out-hit CSP .230-185 and finished with 9.0-5.0 edge in blocks. Despite the efficiency being in WSU's favor, the volume was in CSP's as they edge the Warriors in kills at 56-52, digs at 67-64 and aces at 5-4 to guide the team to victory.
 
Jasmine Mulvihill provided much of that volume with a career-best 25 kills while delivering an efficient effort of her own at .435. She also chipped in five digs, an ace and a block in the win. Erin Fallert also reached double figures with 10 kills to go along with 17 digs for the double-double. It was also a historic night for Fallert as she became the 19th player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs with her final dig of the night.
 
Payton Nutter provided a double-double of her own with 51 assists and 12 digs while Tori Hanson registered a match-best 23 digs in the win.
 
Cori Meyers led the WSU attack with 12 kills while Becca Pagel paced the squad with 15 digs in the loss.
 
After the Warriors grabbed the first point of the match, the Golden Bears took control with the next five in a row and nine of 12 to jump out to a 9-4 lead. WSU quickly jumped back even with a 5-0 run of their own, but CSP was back out front with an 8-4 run the other way to make it 17-13 in their favor. Winona State managed to close the gap to one at 17-16, but they were unable to get any closer as Concordia finished strong to take the first set 25-20.
 
The second set got off to an even start as WSU held a slight 6-5 lead before a 3-0 run gave the Warriors some breathing room. Concordia chipped away to pull within two at 11-9 and again at 12-10, but Winona State pulled away from there. With the margin still at three at 16-13, the Warriors embarked on a 9-2 run to cruise to a 25-15 set win to tie the match at 1-1.
 
Concordia came out firing to start the third set with four of the first five and six of the first eight, but the Warriors came storming back. CSP maintained a three-point cushion at 9-6, but a 4-0 run for WSU turned the momentum in their favor. The lead went back and forth from there as there were five ties and three lead changes over the next 12 points. Winona State clung to a slim lead for much of the middle of the set until a 3-0 run turned a 20-18 deficit into a 21-20 lead for Concordia. That shift started another string of ties and lead changes as WSU regained the lead at 22-21 before the Golden Bears finished on a 4-1 run to take the set 25-23.
 
The back and forth play continued in the fourth set as CSP opened with the first two points before WSU responded with four in a row to take the lead. They continued to hold a lead of a point or two until Concordia tied the score at 8-8 to kick of a stretch of three ties over a five-point span. The Golden Bears turned the tide in their favor with a 5-1 run to build a 14-11 advantage before hanging onto a slim lead until Winona State tied it back up at 15-15. CSP regained the lead with the next point, but the momentum shifted heavily back in the Warriors' favor with a 4-0 run to make it 19-16 in their favor. Their lead remained three several points later at 22-19, but they were only able to manage one more point the rest of the way as the Golden Bears rallied with a 6-1 run to win the set 25-23 and match 3-1.
 
Concordia hits the road this weekend for their final regular season road trip as they take on #5 Minnesota Duluth on Friday and #8 St. Cloud State on Saturday.