ST. PAUL, Minn. – The fourth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (20-2, 11-2 NSIC) cruised to a sweep (25-8, 25-12, 25-12) of Bemidji State (8-13, 5-8 NSIC) on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center.
 
CSP won for the 36^th consecutive time against the Beavers as they picked up their 33^rd sweep during that span to move their overall record to 37-8-1 in the all-time series.
 
It was an all-around dominant display for the Golden Bears as they hit over .500 for the first time this season while holding their opponent to .000 or below for just the second time on the year. Their .540 hitting percentage was the seventh best in the DII era for CSP and best since hitting .600 against Minot State all the way back on Oct. 6, 2016. It also marked the first time since Oct. 30, 2015 at BSU that Concordia hit .500 or better and held their opponents to .000 or below.
 
Concordia added a 41-18 advantage in kills, a 40-14 advantage in digs, an 8-4 advantage in aces and a 5.0-1.0 advantage in blocks in the victory.
 
Jasmine Mulvihill and Sophia Andersen each reached double figures in kills in efficient performances as Mulvihill collected 13 kills with a .556 hitting percentage while Andersen finished with 10 kills and a .474 mark. Mulvihill added five digs and three blocks while Andersen chipped in six digs.
 
Emma Schmidt was nearly perfect with eight kills on nine swings to finish with a .778 hitting percentage to go along with five digs, two aces and two assists in the win. Teagan Starkey added 34 assists and seven digs in the victory. Payton Stier led all CSP players with three aces while Ellie Sieling had two aces to go along with a team-best eight digs.
 
With the Golden Bears holding an 8-5 lead in the opening set, they completely shut BSU down for the remainder of the set as they scored 17 of the final 20 points, including runs of six and seven points in a row to win it 25-8.
 
The Beavers opened with three aces to start the second set and remained out from at 7-6, but once again CSP took control. This time it was a 10-0 run that proved to be the decider as they turned a 14-11 lead into a 24-11 edge before winning it 25-12.
 
Concordia used an 8-0 burst midway through the third set to balloon their lead to 16-5 before it grew to as many as 14 at 23-9. Eventually CSP matched their second set victory with a 25-12 mark to finish off the sweep.
 
Concordia will look to make it a weekend sweep tomorrow night as they host Minnesota Crookston at 5 p.m.