FAYETTE, Iowa – The 10^th-ranked Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (19-6, 13-3 NSIC) was unable to keep pace on the road as they were swept (24-26, 22-25, 17-25) by Upper Iowa (17-8, 10-6 NSIC) on Tuesday night.
 
The Peacocks claimed their first ever victory against the Golden Bears in 19 tries as CSP dropped to 18-1 in the all-time series.
 
While both teams finished with an identical 38 kills and UIU held a slim .200-.189 advantage in the match, serving made the difference on the night. Upper Iowa tallied 11 aces on the night while the Golden Bears were held without any in the loss. Despite the loss, CSP also led the way in digs at 43-42 and blocks at 7.0-3.0 on the night.
 
Payton Stier led the team in digs for the third match in a row, finishing with 12, while Sophia Andersen and Emma Schmidt fell one shy of double figures with nine apiece. Andersen also matched a team high with eight kills while Schmidt had five. Kennedy Brady added eight kills and three blocks while Kora Kritzberger hit .500 with six kills and three blocks. Teagan Starkey led the team with 18 assists while Ellie Veldman followed close behind with 14.
 
Charisma Herr led UIU with 15 digs while Kaitlin Niedert had nine kills in the win.
 
After seeing the Peacocks double up the Golden Bears early on at 6-3, CSP answered with four in a row to take a 7-6 lead. UIU responded with 10 of the next 13 to build a 16-10 edge before extending the lead to seven at 19-12. That would be their largest lead of the set as Concordia came storming back with a 10-3 run of their own to tie it up at 22-22. After UIU kill, the Golden Bears grabbed the next two points to force set point at 24-23. Upper Iowa answered with three straight points to win the set 26-24.
 
The second set saw very little separation between the two schools as neither team had a lead larger than three until a 3-0 burst gave Upper Iowa 14-10 advantage. A few points later, CSP took three of four points to trim it to a pair at 17-15, but that proved to be all the closer they could get as the two teams alternated points for the rest of the set, giving the Peacocks a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-22 set win.
 
With Concordia holding a slim 9-8 lead in the third set, Upper Iowa took control with a 6-0 run to take the lead for good at 15-9. CSP trimmed it back down to four on several occasions down the stretch, including as late as 21-17, but UIU closed with a 4-0 run to take the set 25-17 and the match 3-0.
 
The Golden Bears return home this weekend for their final home weekend as they host Northern State on Friday at 6 p.m. and MSU Moorhead on Saturday at 5 p.m.