SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The #3 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (8-2, 1-1 NSIC) picked up their first NSIC win of 2022 with a four-set victory (25-15, 26-24, 17-25, 25-22) over #24 Augustana (9-1, 1-1 NSIC) on Saturday night at Elmen Center.
The Golden Bears made it 28 wins in 30 meetings with the Vikings as they remained unbeaten in 12 trips to Augie.
Concordia was forced to grind out the victory as both teams finished below .200 hitting with CSP at .174 and AU at .143. The Vikings held a slight edge in kills at 53-51 and in aces at 6-5, but the Golden Bears finished with fewer miscues as Augie had 30 hitting errors to CSP's 24 and six service errors to CSP's three.
Three different CSP players registered at least 16 digs on the night as
Emma Schmidt led the way with 19 digs while falling a kill short of a double-double with nine.
Ellie Sieling followed with 17 digs while
Payton Stier chipped in 16. The team finished with a season-best 68 digs in the win.
In her first career start,
Halle Bemmels was solid conducting the offense as she finished with a career-best 43 assists to go along with seven digs, two aces and two blocks in the win. Three hitters reached double figures as
Jasmine Mulvihill filled the box score with 13 kills, six blocks and six digs while
Katie Mattson and
Sophia Andersen had 11 kills apiece. Mattson added six blocks of her own while
Kennedy Brady finished with four.
Maddy Guetter paced the Vikings with 15 kills, 10 digs, four blocks and two aces in the loss.
After the two teams split the first 14 points of the match, Concordia took control with a 5-0 run to build a 13-8 advantage. Another 6-0 burst a few points later ballooned the lead to 19-10 as CSP gave themselves some breathing room. That lead would not shrink below eight the rest of the way as they took the opening set 25-15.
It was the Vikings that got out to an early lead in the second as they built a 7-4 edge, but eight of the next 11 points went in favor of CSP as the Golden Bears jumped ahead 12-10. The momentum continued to swing back and forth as Augie regained the lead at 16-13 before an extended 9-3 burst for Concordia gave them a 22-19 edge. Five of the next six went in favor of Augie as they forced set point at 24-23, but CSP finished strong with three straight points to win the set 26-24.
Concordia carried that momentum into the third set as they took an early 6-3 lead, but the Vikings responded with 10 of the next 12 to grab a five-point advantage of their own at 13-8. The Golden Bears chipped away to pull within two at 17-15, but they managed just two points the rest of the set as Augustana surged to take the set by a score of 25-17.
The Golden Bears turned it around early in the fourth set as they scored five of the first seven points and eight of the first 11. CSP kept Augie at arm's length as they maintained a six-point edge at 17-11 before a 6-1 run for the Vikings closed the gap to one. Augustana eventually pulled even at 22-22, but back-to-back-to-back kills for Concordia closed out the set at 25-22 and the match at 3-1.
CSP returns home next weekend as they host Sioux Falls at 6 p.m. on Friday and Southwest Minnesota State at 2 p.m. on Saturday in their first home weekend of conference play.
