ST. PAUL, Minn. – The second-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (18-1, 9-1 NSIC) grabbed a top-10 victory over seventh-ranked Southwest Minnesota State (14-3, 7-2 NSIC) in four sets (25-18, 21-25, 25-17, 25-22) on Thursday night at Gangelhoff Center.
 
Strong serving and timely runs helped the Golden Bears extend their winning streak to nine as they improved their all-time mark against the Mustangs to 42-27-1.
 
CSP finished the night with a 10-2 advantage in service aces while holding slim edges in nearly every other area. Emma Schmidt, Payton Stier, Ellie Sieling and Cassie Sieling each contributed multiple aces as Schmidt and Stier had three apiece and the Sielings had two apiece. Schmidt added 14 kills and 17 digs while Ellie Sieling led all players with 20 digs in the win.
 
 Concordia edged Southwest Minnesota State 65-54 in kills, 79-64 in digs, 6.0-5.0 in blocks and .278-.255 in hitting percentage in the win.
 
Offensively, Teagan Starkey dished out 57 assists to go along with 13 digs for her third double-double of the season while four hitters registered a dozen or more kills. Jasmine Mulvihill led the way with 18 kills as she added 15 digs and hit .432 on the night. Katie Mattson was even more efficient with 12 kills on 19 swings for a .474 hitting percentage while Sophia Andersen tallied 13 kills, four digs and three blocks.
 
Leah Jones paced SMSU with 16 kills and Alisa Bengen had 38 assists and 14 digs in the loss.
 
After the Mustangs took three of the first four points of the match, CSP rattled off five points in a row to take the lead for good in the set. The Mustangs pulled within one at 6-5 and again at 10-9 before a 6-2 stretch gave the Golden Bears some breathing room at 16-11. The Concordia lead eventually grew to eight before they took the first set 25-18.
 
In set two, it was a 4-0 SMSU run that turned a one-point lead at 8-7 into a five-point advantage at 12-7 for the visitors. Southwest Minnesota State held off Concordia for the rest of the set as the Golden Bears managed to pull within one at 21-20, but scored just one point from there as the Mustangs evened the match at 1-1 with a 25-21 set win.
 
Schmidt provided the crucial run in the third set as she collected all three of her aces during a seven-point swing that saw the Golden Bears turn a 7-6 deficit into a 13-7 lead. A 5-0 run later in the set for SMSU closed the gap to 16-15, but CSP closed out the set with nine of the next 11 to win it 25-17.
 
After an even start to the fourth, CSP started to pull away midway through with a 5-0 run to make it 13-8. The lead reached seven at 19-12 as Concordia looked poised to cruise to victory, but the Mustangs fought back to 24-22 down the stretch. Andersen finished it off with her 13^th kill on the night as the Golden Bears took the match in four sets.
 
CSP returns to the road next weekend as they travel to St. Cloud State on Friday and Minnesota Duluth on Saturday.