ST. PAUL, Minn. – The fourth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (15-3, 9-0 NSIC) finished off a perfect Homecoming weekend with a sweep (25-13, 25-15, 25-15) of Minnesota Crookston (1-13, 0-9 NSIC) on Saturday night at Gangelhoff Center.
 
The Golden Bears made it 35 straight wins, with 32 sweeps, over the Golden Eagles as they moved to 35-3 in the all-time series. The win also moved CSP to 9-0 in NSIC action for the first time since the title-winning 2013 season when Concordia opened league play with 19 consecutive victories.
 
Concordia's offense cleared .400 hitting for the first time this season as they compiled a mark of .424 with 47 kills and just 11 errors on 85 swings on the night. That mark was the highest for the team since they hit an astonishing .600 against Minot State just over three years ago on Oct. 6, 2018. CSP's defense also held UMC to .146 with 27 kills over the three sets.
 
CSP also dominated the serving battle as they tallied 12 aces compared to three for UMC. The Golden Bears also grabbed a 40-25 edge in digs and a 7.0-1.0 edge in total blocks to aid the effort. Eight different Concordia players picked up at least one ace, led by three from Tori Hanson.
 
The offense came from all over in a balanced CSP attack as four different players registered double figures in kills. Sophia Andersen paced the squad with 13 kills while adding in three digs and two blocks while Kennedy Brady and Emma Schmidt chipped in 11 kills apiece. Brady hit an efficient .667 on 15 attempts while Schmidt finished at .474. Jasmine Mulvihill added 10 kills, four digs, two blocks and two aces in the win.
 
Ellie Veldman and Teagan Starkey split setting duties on the night as Veldman led the way with 30 assists and three blocks while Starkey contributed 12 in the win. Tori Hanson moved even closer to 2,000 career digs as her team-leading 11 brought her total to 1,980.
 
Natalie Koke contributed 23 assists while Lauren Wallace chipped in 12 digs to provide a pair of highlights for Minnesota Crookston.
 
Concordia slowly built their lead in the opening set as they began to pull away from the Golden Eagles. The big run came late as CSP rattled off an 8-1 run to turn a 16-10 lead into a 24-11 edge before going on to win the set 25-13.
 
An early 6-0 run in the second set put the Golden Bears in front for good. Another 6-1 burst later in the set extended the lead to 16-7 to match their largest lead of the set until the final margin. Concordia eventually pushed the lead to double figures as they won the set 25-15.
 
CSP led from wire-to-wire in the third and final set as they held the Golden Eagles at bay throughout. From 9-6 on, Concordia's advantage never shrunk below three as they closed on a 5-0 run to win the set 25-15.
 
The Golden Bears are set to conclude a five-match homestand next weekend as #6 Wayne State and Augustana come to town.