DULUTH, Minn. – The fourth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (13-2, 7-0 NSIC) rebounded from a 1-0 deficit and a 2-1 deficit to make it seven wins in a row with a five-set road victory (23-25, 25-19, 17-25, 25-21, 15-9) at 22^nd-ranked Minnesota Duluth (10-5, 3-4 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon.
 
Heading into the fourth set with their backs against the wall, the Golden Bears fought their way back to claim their second come-from-behind win and first while trailing after three sets on the season.
 
CSP moved to 7-0 in league play for the third time in the past four seasons as they now sit one win shy of matching their best start since the 2013 season. The victory also moved Concordia to within one win of evening the all-time series with the Bulldogs as they improved to 29-30 against UMD.
 
Saturday's matchup proved to be a defensive battle as neither team cleared .100 hitting as CSP finished at .097 with 44 kills and 30 errors on 144 attempts while UMD finished at .079 with 51 kills and 38 errors on 164 attempts. For the second time in as many nights, the Golden Bears set a new season high with 15.0 total blocks as a team, marking their best total since collecting 16.0 against SMSU all the way back on Sept. 14, 2019. Concordia also managed to edge Minnesota Duluth in digs at 61-57 while the Bulldogs grabbed a slight 6-5 advantage in service aces.
 
Kennedy Brady played a major role in the block party as she matched her career high with nine blocks, the same total she collected in the Sept. 14, 2019 meeting with SMSU, while also tallying 11 kills to put her one block shy of a double-double. Jasmine Mulvihill chipped in six blocks of her own to go along with five digs, two aces and a team-best 12 kills. Sophia Andersen joined the pair in double figures in kills with 11.
 
Tori Hanson led all players with 22 digs to give her a whopping 45 on the weekend. Emma Schmidt added 13 digs as well as six kills and four blocks in the win. Ellie Veldman finished with 36 assists, seven digs and a pair of blocks on the day.
 
Cianna Selbitschka played a starring role for the Bulldogs as she finished with 17 kills and 13 digs in the loss.
 
The Golden Bears found themselves in an early hole in the opening set as they fell behind 9-3 early on before clawing their way back even at 18-18. They remained tied at 21-21 before UMD finished strong to win it 25-23.
 
The second set featured a match-high eight ties along with a pair of lead changes as Concordia trailed early before pulling away late. Still trailing by two at 17-15, CSP strung together a decisive 10-2 run to tie the match at 1-1 with a 25-19 set win.
 
The Bulldogs led wire-to-wire in the third set as they led by as many as eight at the final margin of 25-17.
 
Facing defeat, Concordia flipped the script in the fourth set as they used an early 6-0 advantage to take the decisive lead. The Golden Bears led by as many as eight before a late Minnesota Duluth push closed the final gap to 25-21.
 
It was the Bulldogs that gained the early lead in the fifth set as they held advantages of 4-3 and 6-5 before CSP scored five straight to pull ahead for good. The Golden Bears claimed 10 of the final 13 points to seal the comeback win with a 15-9 win in the fifth.
 
Concordia has a quick turnaround with a Tuesday night non-conference home meeting with #11 Winona State before hosting Bemidji State on Friday and Minnesota Crookston on Saturday for homecoming weekend.