SEATTLE, Wash. – The top-seeded and third-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (30-5) swept (25-19, 25-23, 25-11) eighth-seeded Southern New Hampshire (19-8) on Thursday night in the NCAA National quarterfinal at Royal Brougham Pavilion on the campus of Seattle Pacific.
 
The Golden Bears advance to face fourth-seeded and 19^th-ranked Cal State LA (25-6) in the semifinals on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. with the winner securing a spot in Saturday night's championship match.
 
The victory moved CSP to 77-9 in the NCAA Tournament, including a mark of 11-1 in national quarterfinal contests. In total, the Golden Bears have won 30 of their 32 matches in the Elite Eight field, winning their last 28 in a row dating back to 2006.
 
Concordia terminated at an efficient clip as they finished the match with a .425 hitting percentage and 47 kills on the night, hitting an incredible .615 in the opening set. The Golden Bears also held the Penmen to just 27 kills and an .092 hitting percentage while they also tallied a 34-25 edge in digs and a 7.0-2.0 edge in blocks in the win.
 
Katie Mattson paced the squad with 14 kills and six blocks while she hit .458 for the match. Jasmine Mulvihill joined her in double figures with 10 kills, eight digs and three blocks on the night. Emma Schmidt followed close behind with nine kills and a .500 hitting percentage while chipping in five digs.
 
Teagan Starkey finished the night with 42 assists while Ellie Sieling led all players with 11 digs. Payton Stier added three of CSP's five aces as well.
 
Dai Thawnghmung and Carmen Bernardis each had seven kills to lead SNHU while Sara Montefameglio had 19 assists in the loss.
 
For much of the early stages of the first set, the Golden Bears maintained a slim advantage as the Penmen remained within striking distance. After a 3-0 run for SNHU tied the score at 15-15, Concordia took the lead for good with a 6-1 burst a few points later to make it 22-17. CSP eventually added to their lead at the final margin of 25-19.
 
Concordia came out firing in set two with four of the first five points and six of seven, but Southern New Hampshire battled back from there. With the CSP lead at four at 10-6, SNHU rattled off a 9-3 run to take a 15-13 lead of their own. That lead proved to be short-lived, however, as the Golden Bears turned the tide a few points later with a 7-1 run to turn a 17-16 deficit into a 23-18 lead. The Penmen showed some fight with five straight points to even it back up at 23-23, but they were unable to get over the hump as Concordia closed it out with two kills in a row to win the set 25-23 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Southern New Hampshire opened the third set with two of the first three points, but the momentum quickly shifted in the favor of the Golden Bears as CSP hammered out 10 consecutive points and 16 of the next 18 to put it out of reach at 17-4. The lead remained comfortably in double figures as the Concordia completed the sweep with a 25-11 set win.