BISMARCK, N.D. – The #14 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (21-7, 15-4 NSIC) secured a top-three finish in the Northern Sun with a four-set win (25-23, 21-25, 25-19, 25-12) on the road at UMary (6-22, 3-16 NSIC) on Friday night.
The Golden Bears head into the final day of the regular season a game behind Winona State in second place and could face any of Wayne State, Augustana, Northern State, Southwest Minnesota State, Upper Iowa and Sioux Falls in the first round of the NSIC Tournament at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. next Thursday.
CSP made it 34 wins in the last 36 tries against the Marauders at they moved to 36-9 in the all-time series with the victory.
The Golden Bears led in nearly every statistical category as they edged UMary 61-42 in kills, 69-59 in digs and 9-3 in service aces while both teams had 8.0 blocks. CSP also claimed a .230-.175 advantage in hitting percentage on the night.
Jasmine Mulvihill and
Kennedy Brady combined for 38 of the team's 61 kills in the win as Mulvihill matched her season high with 22 kills and Brady set a new season best with 16 kills. Mulvihill added 11 digs, three blocks and two aces for her eighth double-double of the season while Brady hit .452.
Tori Hanson,
Emma Schmidt and
Ellianna Wiertsema all joined Mulvihill in double figures in digs as Hanson and Schmidt each had 16 and Wiertsema chipped in 14.
Teagan Starkey matched her career high with 38 assists while
Ellie Veldman added 18.
Nehkyah Ellis contributed a massive double-double with 16 kills and 15 digs to lead the Marauders in the loss.
Concordia came out strong with eight of the first 10 points and maintained five-point cushion at 12-7, but the Marauders came storming back with an 8-0 run to pull ahead 15-12. UMary sat within three points of taking the set at 22-19, but they managed just one more points as the Golden Bears closed on a 6-1 run to win it 25-23.
CSP once again jumped ahead early with the first six points of the second half and held an edge until the 11-8 mark when a massive 12-2 burst for the Marauders gave them a 20-13 edge. Concordia responded with seven in a row to even it up at 20-20, but UMary regained control with five of six to win the set 25-21.
The Golden Bears used three different runs of at least four straight points to build a 19-10 advantage before pushing it to double figures at 21-11. UMary battled back to within five at 24-19 late in the set, but a
Jamie Guptill kill sealed the 25-19 set win.
After building a slim 11-9 edge in the fourth, Concordia ran away with it with a decisive 13-1 run before winning the fourth set 25-12 and the match 3-1.
Concordia closes out the regular season tomorrow night as they take on Minot State at 5 p.m.
