DENVER, Colo. – For the seventh time in the past 12 years, the Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (6-2) won the Colorado Premier Challenge as they knocked off #15 Southwest Minnesota State (6-2) in four sets (25-21, 22-25, 25-18, 30-28) in the title match on Saturday night.
 
In a rematch of last year's championship match, Concordia doubled down on the result with their second consecutive tournament title. The Golden Bears also previously claimed the top spot in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2016.
 
In this year's iteration, it was a Golden Bear block party that led to the victory. CSP's 16.0 total blocks were the most in a match for the team since they tallied 18.0 at Minnesota Duluth on November 4, 2016. The total also tied for seventh-most in the DII-era at CSP in four-set matches, marking the best total since 2014.
 
CSP also held solid advantages in digs (62-45) and hitting percentage (.265-.198) to aid the effort.
 
Kennedy Brady played a major role in the CSP block as she set a new career high with nine blocks in the win. Her tally matched the best individual performance in a four-set match since Maria Steinhagen collected 14.0 blocks on November 10, 2016 at Wayne State. Jasmine Mulvihill, Sara Macek and Syndey Book each added five blocks in the victory as well.
 
Mulvihill was also effective offensively with 15 kills on 30 swings (.300 hitting percentage) while Macek also reached double figures with 10. Erin Fallert made it back-to-back double-doubles on the day with 11 kills and 10 digs while Makenna Berger finished with 13 kills and seven digs.
 
Tori Hanson finished the tournament with a staggering 89 digs over the four matches, including 55 over the two matches on Saturday. She once again paced the field with 27 digs to go along with six assists in the championship. Payton Nutter added 31 assists and five digs while Ellie Veldman finished with 22 assists and seven digs.
 
Hanson, Mulvihill, Brady and Fallert all earned All-Tournament Team honors for the squad for their performances.
 
SMSU's Angela Young provided a bright spot in the loss as she finished with a massive 24 kills en route to being named Tournament MVP. Meg Schmidt (10 kills) and Zoe Lier (six kills and five blocks) were also named to the All-Tournament Team.
 
Concordia set the tone for the match early in the first set as they scored four of the first five and seven of the first 10 to build an early lead. That lead would not last, however as a 4-0 run for the Mustangs a few points later tied the score at 9-9, but CSP quickly turned it back around with four of five to regain the edge. SMSU managed to even it up again at 17-17 and again at 18-18 before the Golden Bears delivered the decisive blow with a 7-3 run to win the opener 25-21.
 
The second set proved to be much more back and forth with six lead changes over the first 30 points as the two teams found themselves deadlocked at 15-15. The game of runs continued from there as a 4-10 run put SMSU comfortably in front before a 3-0 run the other way a few points later closed the gap back to one. Concordia was unable to get over the hump, however, as Southwest Minnesota State held on to win the set 25-22 and send the match to the third set even at 1-1.
 
The Golden Bears turned things around in the third as they turned a slight 9-7 advantage into a nine-point cushion at 18-9 with a huge 9-2 run. The CSP lead would not shrink below six for the remainder of the set as they took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-18 set win.
 
The Mustangs put Concordia in a deep early hole in the fourth by taking the first five points, but the Golden Bears quickly erased that advantage to work their way back in the set. CSP responded with a 9-4 run two points later to pull even at 10-10 before SMSU went back out front by four with four in a row the other way. Concordia found themselves playing catchup for much of the rest of the set as SMSU came within a point of forcing a fifth set on several occasions. Down 24-22, CSP survived two set points in a row before erasing two more at 26-25 and again at 28-27 before closing on a crucial 3-0 run to win the set 30-28 and win the match 3-1.
 
Concordia opens up NSIC play on the road next weekend as they travel to Minnesota Crookston on Friday and Bemidji State on Saturday.