ST. PAUL, Minn. – The second-seeded and third-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (26-5) saw their dramatic comeback bid fall just short in a five-set loss (26-28, 20-25, 25-18, 25-19, 13-15) to fifth-seeded and ninth-ranked St. Cloud State (26-5) in the NSIC Tournament Championship match on Sunday afternoon at Gangelhoff Center.
Concordia will now wait to see if they earn an at-large bid for the NCAA Central Region Tournament set to be played next weekend. The NCAA Volleyball selection show will be streamed online tonight at 9:30 p.m. (CT) on NCAA.com.
The Golden Bears saw the Huskies run out to a 2-0 lead in the match before clawing their way back to force a decisive fifth set. The two teams slugged it out in the final set with eight ties and four lead changes as Concordia led as late as 13-12 before SCSU secured the automatic bid with three straight points to win the set 15-13.
CSP saw their bid for a seventh NSIC Tournament crown fall short as they dropped to 6-4 in 10 trips to the title match and 28-8 overall in the conference tourney. The Golden Bears also dropped to 31-3 in the all-time series with the Huskies as SCSU picked up their first win in 14 trips to St. Paul.
The Golden Bears hit a solid .308 on the night as they matched their season high with 74 kills while SCSU finished at .288 and 62, respectively. CSP also set a new season-best with 70 digs to go along with 11.0 blocks. From the serving line, both teams collected four aces as Concordia had 17 service errors compared to 12 for St. Cloud State.
Teagan Starkey assisted on 64 of the team's 74 kills, putting up her second highest assist total on the year. She added nine digs and five blocks in a full stat line. Both
Jasmine Mulvihill and
Emma Schmidt had identical lines of 17 kills and 15 digs while Mulvihill had four blocks and Schmidt had two aces.
Katie Mattson and
Kennedy Brady gave the Golden Bears four in double figures in kills as Mattson hit .500 with 13 kills and Brady collected a match-high seven blocks to go along with a dozen kills.
Makenna Berger put up eight kills with a .389 hitting percentage in three sets of play.
Starkey and Mattson both took home NSIC All-Tournament Team honors with their efforts.
Both Sieling twins reached double digits in digs as
Ellie Sieling matched Mulvihill and Schmidt with 15 digs while
Cassie Sieling added 11 in the loss.
Linsey Rachel paced the Huskies with 17 kills and 13 digs while Kenzie Foley just missed a double-double of her own with a match-best 26 digs and nine kills in the win.
The opening set proved to be an indication of things to come as the lead traded hands four times and the two teams were tied eight times throughout the set. The Golden Bears built up a 13-9 lead with a 9-2 run and maintained a slim lead until the 21-17 mark, but the Huskies came roaring back with five of the next six to take a 23-22 lead. CSP then forced set points at 24-23 and again at 25-24 before SCSU came out on top at 28-26.
Set two was more of the same early with five ties and three lead changes before a 4-0 run gave CSP an 11-7 edge. The lead sat at three at 19-16 for the Golden Bears, but they managed just one more point the rest of the set as St. Cloud State took a 2-0 lead with a 25-20 set win.
Concordia turned the tide in the third as a quick 6-1 burst gave them the decisive advantage at 9-4. The lead would not shrink below three for the duration of the set as CSP pushed it to a fourth set with a 25-18 win.
The Golden Bears continued their surge into the fourth as they scored eight of the first 10 points before maintaining a comfortable lead throughout. The fluctuated from five to seven as CSP extended it to the fifth and final set with a 25-19 set win.
There was very little separation between the two teams in the fifth set as neither team led by more than two throughout. CSP used their first timeout after SCSU took an 11-9 lead and immediately shifted the momentum with four of five to pull within two points of victory. That would be all the closer they would get, however, as back-to-back kills followed by a block sealed it for the Huskies.
