HOUGHTON, Mich. – The second-ranked Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (3-0) made it four straight wins to start the season with a sweep (25-19, 25-18, 28-26) of Parkside (1-3) and a sweep (25-17, 25-20, 25-23) of Michigan Tech (1-3) on Saturday as they closed out play in the Keweenaw Volleyball Classic.
 
The Golden Bears open the season with a four-match winning streak for the first time since rattling off seven wins in a row to start the 2017 season. Concordia's Tori Hanson and Katie Mattson were named to the All-Tournament Team.
 
Concordia-St. Paul 3, Parkside 0
CSP ground out a victory in the first match of the day as they held UWP to .107 (32-21-103) for the match, including marks of .211 or below in each of the three sets. On the offensive side of play, Concordia finished at .248 (46-20-105) with marks above .200 in all three sets. The Golden Bears added a 43-33 edge in digs, a 5-2 edge in aces and an 8.0-7.0 edge in blocks.
 
Freshman Sophia Andersen put together the best performance of her young career as she paced all players with 18 kills and a pair of blocks while hitting an impressive .536 in the match. Emma Schmidt nearly joined her in double figures with nine kills and eight digs while Kennedy Brady added seven kills and three blocks with a .538 hitting percentage.
 
Tori Hanson finished with 16 digs, three assists and a pair of aces while Ellie Veldman and Teagan Starkey split time at the setter position. Veldman contributed 23 assists and six digs while Starkey chipped in 19 assists. Katie Mattson added a career-best five blocks to go along with six kills.
 
After jumping out to an early 7-4 lead in the first, CSP saw the Rangers even up the score with three straight points. The Golden Bears turned it on from there as they grabbed 11 of the next 14 points to run out to an 18-10 advantage. Parkside clawed their way back in it with a 5-1 run to cut it to four, but that would be all the closer they would get. The margin remained four at 23-19 until Concordia picked up back-to-back points to seal the 25-19 set win.
 
It was the Golden Bears that led again in the early stages of the second set as they built an 11-5 edge, but a 5-0 surge for the Rangers trimmed it back to one. CSP had the lead back out to five at 19-14 before another UWP push brought it back to within three at 20-17. It was all Concordia from there as they closed on a 5-1 run to claim a 25-18 win in the set and a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Concordia found themselves playing catch-up in the third set as they didn't take their first lead until the 25-24 mark. In total, the set featured eight ties with the lone lead change in what proved to be the decisive set. The Rangers led by as many as five at 15-10 following a 6-1 run as they still maintained a four-point advantage at 23-19. CSP responded with four in a row to tie it at 23-23 before a UWP point forced set point, but the Golden Bears grabbed the next two points to force a set point of their own. Parkside managed to erase a pair of set points before two straight kills from Andersen sealed the sweep.
 
Concordia-St. Paul 3, Michigan Tech 0
Another strong defensive effort helped the Golden Bears finish off the weekend strong as they held the Huskies to .098 (36-23-133) while hitting .264 (48-15-125) as a team. CSP added a massive 10.0-3.0 edge in blocks to go along with a 57-54 edge in digs.
 
Jasmine Mulvihill and Emma Schmidt both registered their first double-doubles of the season in the win as Mulvihill collected 15 kills, 10 digs and two blocks while Schmidt finished with 11 kills and 11 digs. Katie Mattson put up an incredibly efficient effort with seven kills on 11 swings with no errors to hit .636 for the match while surpassing her career-high mark set in the first match of the day with six blocks (one solo and five block assists). Kennedy Brady added nine kills and three blocks.
 
Ellie Veldman filled the stat sheet with 37 assists, eight digs and four blocks while Tori Hanson led the team with 16 digs to go along with four assists.
 
Anna Jonynas grabbed a double-double of her own for Michigan Tech with 13 kills and 11 digs while Lina Espejo-Ramirez picked up 27 assists and nine digs.
 
With MTU holding a 5-4 lead in the opening set, the Golden Bears started to take control with five straight points to jump out to a 9-5 lead. Another five-point burst as a part of a larger 8-1 run a few points later extended the lead out to nine at 18-9 as Concordia pulled away. The Huskies responded with three straight to close the margin to six, but that would be all the closer they would get as CSP cruised to a 25-17 first set win.
 
After a back and forth start to the second set, CSP strung together a 7-1 run to turn a 9-8 deficit into a 15-10 lead. They held that same five point edge a few points later before a 5-0 run for Michigan Tech evened the score at 17-17. MTU remained within striking distance until the 21-20 mark, but the Golden Bears closed out the set strong with four points in a row to win it 25-20.
 
There was very little separation between the two teams in the third as CSP's lead did not grow larger than three until a 4-1 run pushed it to 18-13. The Huskies grabbed the next four in a row to shrink the gap to one, but they were unable to get over the hump as the Golden Bears held the lead the rest of the way. Michigan Tech survived three consecutive match points to cut a 24-20 edge down to 24-23, but Brady finished off the win with a kill.
 
The Golden Bears will look to continue their winning ways next weekend as they travel to Denver, Colo. for the Colorado Premier Challenge. They open up play with #25 Rockhurst and #3 CSU San Bernardino on Friday.