BEMIDJI, Minn. – The #6 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (8-2, 2-0 NSIC) survived a scare at Bemidji State (3-7, 0-2 NSIC) as they erased a 2-1 deficit to win in five sets (21-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-16, 15-10) on Saturday afternoon.
Heading into the fourth set with their 31-match winning streak against the Beavers in jeopardy, the Golden Bears ratcheted up the defense in the fourth before putting up a nearly perfect offensive performance in the fifth to claim the victory. With the win, Concordia improved to 34-8-1 in the all-time series while also making it six straight wins overall this season.
Concordia's offense helped lead the way in the win as they hit .314 or better in all three sets they won in the match, including an incredible .778 (7-0-9) in the fifth set. CSP finished the match at .320 with 70 kills on 147 swings while the Beavers grabbed 54 kills on 128 attempts for a mark of .258. The Golden Bears also held a 5-2 advantage in aces as well as an 8-7 advantage in blocks while Bemidji State edged Concordia in digs with a margin of 47-44.
It was another career day for freshman
Jasmine Mulvihill as she reached double figures in kills for the sixth time in a row and ninth time in 10 matches, finishing with a career-best 18 kills while hitting .361. Concordia's middles also played an important role in the offensive outburst as
Kennedy Brady put up an incredible .667 hitting percentage with 14 kills on 18 swings while Macek tallied 12 kills to go along with a .381 hitting percentage.
Payton Nutter added her third double-double of the season with 37 assists while Ellie Veldeman added 23 assists and a pair of digs.
Tori Hanson matched Nutter's dig total with 10 to give her double-digit totals in all but one match on the year.
Becky Schroeder was the focal point of the Bemidji State attack as she finished with a team-best 18 kills while hitting .469 in the loss. Emma Hallman led all players with 14 digs while Maddie Mackinac contributed 50 assists and eight digs.
The Beavers got off to a fast start in the first set as an early 5-1 run turned a 5-5 tie into a 10-6 BSU lead. Concordia responded with six straight points and 10 of 13 to build a 16-13 lead of their own, but a 7-2 run the other way had Bemidji State back out front 20-18. Concordia took the next point to pull back within one, but five of the next seven went to the Beavers as they took the first set 25-21.
Concordia turned the tide in the second as they opened with the first three points as a part of a larger 8-3 run to build a five-point edge. Bemidji State trimmed the gap to three with a 3-1 run, but four in a row extended the CSP lead to 13-6. That lead did not shrink below five the rest of the set as it reached eight at 20-12 and again at 23-15 before the Golden Bears won the set 25-19.
The two teams went back and forth early in the third set until a 3-0 run for the Beavers turned a 10-10 tie into a 13-10 BSU lead. CSP responded with four in a row to take the lead before Bemidji State regained the edge with three straight a few points later. Concordia tied the score at 18-18 before the Beavers strung together another late run, this time a 7-3 burst, to win the set 25-21.
Trailing 2-1 in the match, the Golden Bears bounced back in a big way in the fourth as they used three different runs of at least four points to balloon their lead all the way to double digits at 15-4. The Beavers managed to shrink it back to single digits a couple times late in the set, but it was too little too late as CSP evened the match at 2-2 with a decisive 25-16 set win in the fourth.
After falling behind 2-1 in the decisive fifth set, the Golden Bears came up with a crucial 7-2 burst to take the lead for good at 9-4. Concordia took care of business from there as they kept the Beavers from picking up back-to-back points the rest of the set en route to winning the set 15-10.
CSP will look to extend their winning streak next weekend as they return to St. Paul for their home opening weekend against #4 Minnesota Duluth on Friday and #19 St. Cloud State on Saturday.
