ST. PAUL, Minn. – The seventh-ranked Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (17-3, 11-0 NSIC) survived a late push from Augustana (12-7, 7-4 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon as they claimed a four-set win (25-14, 25-21, 26-28, 28-26) at Gangelhoff Center.
For the eighth time in the
Brady Starkey era and the first time since 2013, the Golden Bears are unbeaten through 11 matches in conference play. CSP also made it 27 consecutive victories over the Vikings as they moved to 27-1 in the all-time series.
While Friday night's match proved to be a defensive battle, the offenses were on display on Saturday. Concordia tallied 67 kills and just 17 errors on 164 swings to finish with a .305 hitting percentage while Augie collected 58 kills and 23 errors on 162 attempts to hit .216. Concordia added slim advantages in blocks (7.0-4.0) and in aces (4-2) while Augustana edged CSP 74-73 in digs.
Emma Schmidt blew past her career high in kills as she finished with a match-best 20 on the day while adding 14 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. She committed just two errors on her 42 attempts to lead the team with a .429 hitting percentage.
Sophia Andersen followed close behind with 17 kills and a .289 hitting percentage while
Jasmine Mulvihill added 14 kills and a .324 hitting percentage.
Tori Hanson wrapped up a massive weekend with 26 digs against the Vikings, bringing her tally to 61 (6.78 per set) over two matches on the weekend.
Ellie Veldman added 27 assists, four blocks and three kills while Tegan Starkey had 29 assists, six digs and two aces.
Maddy Guetter finished with a double-double for Augie with 17 kills and 11 digs while Erika Bute chipped in 26 digs in the loss.
The Golden Bears came out firing with six of the first seven points and 11 of the first 14 to take the lead for good. The lead eventually reached double figures at 20-10 as they went on to take the set 25-14.
The Vikings managed grab a small lead early in the second and maintained an edge at 8-6, but a 7-2 run the other way put Concordia in front at 13-10. The lead bounced between two and four the rest of the way as CSP went on to take a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-21 set win.
After an even start to the third, CSP rattled off a 5-0 run to turn a 12-10 deficit into a 15-12 lead. Augie answered with three in a row before the two teams jostled for the lead until the latter stages of play. With the score even at 22-22, Concordia took two straight points to force match point. The Vikings showed some resilience as they erased two straight match points and four overall on the set before closing on a 3-0 run to win the set 28-26, forcing a fourth set.
The Vikings looked poised to push the match to a fifth set as they clung to a lead of a couple of points throughout most of the set, including at set point at 24-22, but the Golden Bears finished strong. It was CSP's turn to fight back from set point as they survived three of them before forcing one of their own at 26-25. Augie kept the match alive with a Guetter kill, but back-to-back kills for Veldman and
Kora Kritzberger sealed the four-set win for Concordia.
The Golden Bears hit the road for four of the next five matches, starting with a weekend trip to Sioux Falls and #10 Southwest Minnesota State next weekend.
