ST. PAUL, Minn. – The third-ranked and second-seeded Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (25-4) swept (25-21, 25-17, 25-23) seventh-seeded Northern State in the NSIC Tournament quarterfinal at Gangelhoff Center.
The Golden Bears will third-seeded and fourth-ranked Minnesota Duluth on Saturday at 5 p.m. with the winner advancing to Sunday's championship match.
CSP picked up their 12
th win in 14 opening round matches in the NSIC Tournament as they improved to 27-7 all-time in the tourney. Concordia also moved to 37-10 in the all-time series with the Wolves and 23-4 on their home court against NSU.
In the first match of the day, the Golden Bears did just enough to win all three sets as they compiled a slim 42-37 edge in kills and a 10.0-6.0 edge in blocks while both teams finished with five aces and Northern State claimed a 52-49 advantage in digs. CSP proved to be the more efficient of the two teams as they committed 15 errors compared to 21 for NSU to finish with a .231-.140 hitting advantage. Concordia also committed fewer errors from the serving line as they had four compared to six for the Wolves.
Katie Mattson shouldered the load offensively as she tallied a team-best 15 kills on just 26 swings to hit an even .500 in the win while she also chipped in four blocks. It was her third match with 15 or more kills in the past four matches as she continued her late season surge. She was the lone Golden Bear in double figures in kills as
Sophia Andersen followed with nine kills and
Jasmine Mulvihill had eight.
Mulvihill was one of two CSP players to reach double digits in digs as she collected 12 digs to go along with three blocks while
Emma Schmidt led all players with 14 digs.
Ellie Sieling added nine digs, two aces and two assists while
Teagan Starkey put up 34 assists, four digs and two aces.
Sally Gaul collected a double-double for Northern State as she contributed 11 kills, 11 digs and three blocks in the loss.
The first set featured some twists and turns throughout as eight of the match's 12 ties and all three lead changes came in the first set of the day. It was the Golden Bears who struck first as they opened on a 7-3 run before NSU responded with nine of the next 11 to take a 12-9 lead of the own. CSP evened it back up at 14-14 before the Wolves pushed it back to three at 17-14 with three straight points. Concordia flipped the script a couple of points later as they rattled off a 9-1 run to force set point at 24-19 before winning it a few points later at 25-21.
The Golden Bears picked up where they left off to start the second set as they jumped out to a 7-1 lead to take the lead for good. A 7-2 run for the Wolves midway through the set closed the gap to three at 18-15, but that would be all the closer they would get as CSP closed on a 6-1 run to win the set 25-17.
Concordia got off to another fast start in the third as they opened with the first four points before NSU tied it up at 6-6 and again at 7-7. CSP responded with four of five to regain the lead, a lead they held until a 4-1 run in favor of the Wolves pulled the visitors back even at 23-23. The Golden Bears were back on the attack from there with two straight points to complete the sweep with a 25-23 set win.
