MINOT, N.D. – The 14^th-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (22-7, 16-4 NSIC) closed out the regular season with a road sweep of Minot State (1-25, 1-19 NSIC) on Saturday night.
 
The Golden Bears secured the third seed in the NSIC Volleyball Tournament and will face sixth-seeded Augustana in a quarterfinal matchup. The match will be played at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. with winner taking on the winner of second-seeded Winona State and seventh-seeded Upper Iowa on Friday at 4:30 p.m. in the semifinals. The championship match is scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m.
 
CSP claimed their 18^th consecutive victory over the Beavers as they moved to 33-8 in 41 all-time in the series. The victory also secured the 18^th consecutive season of an .800 or better winning percentage in NSIC play under head coach Brady Starkey as the team moved to 314-26 (.924) in conference action with Starkey at the helm.
 
The Golden Bears put up a strong performance both offensively and defensively as they finished with a .378 hitting percentage with 43 kills and just nine errors while holding MiSU to .096 with 24 kills and 15 errors in the win. Concordia added a decisive 46-33 edge in digs, a 7-3 edge in aces and a 4.0-3.0 edge in blocks on the night.
 
Sophia Andersen finished as the lone Golden Bear in double figures in kills while Emma Schmidt was only one in double figures in digs. Andersen hit an efficient .385 with 12 kills while Schmidt tallied 12 digs and five kills.
 
Jasmine Mulvihill hit .400 with nine kills and six digs while Makenna Berger also added six digs to the winning effort. Ellie Veldman finished with 17 assists and two blocks while Teagan Starkey had 14 assists.
 
Tais Vega paced the Beavers with eight digs in the loss.
 
Concordia set the tone early with five of the first six points in the first set to take the lead for good. A 7-2 run midway through the set turned a 10-7 lead into a 17-9 advantage before CSP eventually pushed it to double figures at 22-12. Minot State slowed the momentum with a 5-0 run, but Concordia claimed the final three points of the set to win it 25-17.
 
It was much of the same in the second set as CSP jumped out to a quick 8-3 lead and maintained that lead throughout. The Golden Bears used a 7-2 burst midway through to turn a 9-6 edge into a 16-8 edge before closing out the set with five straight points to claim a 25-13 win.
 
After an even start in the third, Concordia took control with a 5-0 run to double up MiSU at 12-6. The gap remained six at 18-12, but the Beavers managed just two points the rest of the way as the Golden Bears closed out the sweep with a 25-14 set win.