ST. PAUL, Minn. – The sixth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (4-0) made it four wins in four matches at the Concordia-St. Paul Volleyball Tournament as they swept (25-22, 25-20, 28-26) Oklahoma Baptist (1-2) before erasing a 2-0 deficit to defeat Drury (0-4) in five sets (23-25, 24-26, 25-15, 25-17, 15-8) on Saturday at Gangelhoff Center.
 
In the first match of the day with her 12th kill of the match, junior Jasmine Mulvihill became the 22nd player in program history to reach 1,000 kills in her career. She is the first Golden Bear since Brooklyn Lewis in 2018 to reach the mark.

For the second year in a row and for the 10^th time under head coach Brady Starkey, CSP has opened the season with four consecutive victories.
 
The Golden Bears had three players named to the All-Tournament Team as Jasmine Mulvihill, Teagan Starkey and Emma Schmidt all earned the honor. Mulvihill led the way with a massive 5.07 kills per set (71 total kills) while hitting .329 on her 155 attempts in addition to 0.57 blocks per set (eight total blocks). Starkey broke her career high in assists in each of the final three matches of the weekend as she compiled 13.43 assists per set (188 total assists) as well as 2.07 digs per set (29 total digs). Schmidt put up a well-rounded stat line with 2.79 kills per set, 2.57 digs per set, 0.50 aces per set and 0.43 blocks per set while hitting .354 and putting up a .950 receive percentage.
 
#6 Concordia-St. Paul 3, Oklahoma Baptist 0
Concordia extended the streak to nine consecutive sets won to start the season as they took all three sets against the Lady Bison.
 
Offense was the theme in the first match of the day for CSP as the Golden Bears tallied 53 kills while committing just 13 errors for a .342 hitting percentage while OBU connected for 43 kills and 15 errors for a mark of .272.
 
That efficiency along with a 9-5 edge in service aces made the difference in the match as Oklahoma Baptist finished with a 44-38 advantage in digs over the three sets.
 
Starkey collected an impressive 50 assists (16.67 per set) on CSP's 53 kills in the match as she surpassed her career-best by eight with the effort. She added six digs and a pair of aces in the win.
 
Mulvihill, Schmidt and Andersen all reached double figures in kills in the contest as Mulvihill made it two matches in a row with 18 kills as she hit .368 on 38 attempts. Schmidt hit .474 with 10 kills and 10 digs for her first double-double of the year while Andersen put up 14 kills with a .355 mark.
 
Ellie Sieling matched Schmidt with 10 digs as she led the way with three service aces.
 
After Concordia ran out to a 9-6 lead in the opening set, OBU responded with four straight to take a 10-9 lead. Another 3-0 run a few points later extended it to 16-14 before a 10-2 run kicked off with six points in a row gave the Golden Bears the lead for good. The Lady Bison survived four consecutive set points before CSP finished it off at 25-22.
 
Oklahoma Baptist opened with the first three points of set two and they clung to a slim advantage until the later stages of play. With OBU holding a 15-12 edge, CSP responded with a 4-0 run before a 3-0 run gave the lead right back. Concordia turned it on from there, however, as they closed on a 9-2 run to win the set 25-20.
 
Little separated the two teams for much of the third set with six ties and three lead changes over the first 30 points before an extended 8-3 run put the Lady Bison two points away from a set with at 23-18. The Golden Bears wouldn't go away as they tied it up with five points in a row before erasing set points at 24-23, 25-24 and again at 26-25. From there, CSP rattled off three straight points to finish off the sweep with a 28-26 win.
 
#6 Concordia-St. Paul 3, Drury 2
For the first time all weekend, Concordia found themselves in a hole as the Panthers edged their way to set wins of 25-23 and 26-24 in the first two sets to push the Golden Bears to the brink. CSP rebounded in a big way as they cruised to wins of 25-15, 25-17 and 15-8 to secure the comeback win.
 
Concordia forced some Drury miscues throughout the match as the Golden Bears tallied 13 service aces in addition to causing 21 hitting errors and 11 blocking errors for the guests. CSP finished the match with 71 kills and a .280 hitting percentage while the Panthers put up totals of 52 and .215 in the loss.
 
The back row duo of Ellie Sieling and Makenna Berger combined for 34 of the team's 67 digs as Sieling set a new career high with a match-best 19 digs while Berger matched her previous high with 15 digs. Sieling added a massive five service aces with no errors and five assists while Berger chipped in a pair of aces of her own.
 
Offensively, Starkey once again set a new bar in her young career with 59 assists while adding eight digs, two kills and two blocks. Mulvihill led the team for the fourth match in a row to start the year with 19 kills while she added 10 digs and three blocks for the double-double. Kennedy Brady followed with a season-best 17 kills, four blocks and a .412 hitting percentage as Schmidt narrowly missed the double-double with 14 kills, nine digs, four aces and two blocks in a full stat line. Sophia Andersen gave the team four hitters in double digits with 12 kills.
 
In the opening set, the Panthers slowly built an advantage throughout early stages before doubling up the Golden Bears at 12-6 with a 4-0 run. The momentum slowly shifted the other way as CSP pulled within striking distance before taking the lead at 21-20 with a 3-0 burst. The lead would not last, however, as the Panthers turned a 23-22 deficit into a 25-23 win with the final three points in a row.
 
Separation proved to be hard to come by in the second set as there were 14 ties overs the first 32 points before a stretch of three consecutive points put Drury in front 19-16. Concordia evened it up again at 22-22 before forcing set point at 24-23, but another 3-0 Drury run to close it out gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Trailing 3-2 early in the third, Concordia turned the tide in their favor with a big 8-0 run. The lead would not shrink below three the rest of the way as CSP grabbed the final four points to win the set 25-15.
 
It was more of the same in set four as an early 7-0 run turned a 4-4 tie into an 11-4 lead. That lead grew to as many as nine at 15-6 before the Golden Bears forced a decisive fifth set with a 25-17 set win.
 
Drury grabbed the first two points of the fifth and remained in the lead at 4-3 before a 7-1 burst a few points later turned a 6-6 tie into a 13-7 lead. DU was unable to recover as back-to-back Mulvihill kills closed out the five-set win with a 15-8 set victory.
 
The Golden Bears head west next weekend as they travel to the Colorado Premier Challenge on Friday and Saturday.