ST. PAUL, Minn. – The fourth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (23-2, 14-2 NSIC) closed out an unbeaten regular season home slate as they swept MSU Moorhead (7-18, 3-13 NSIC) on Senior Day at Gangelhoff Center.
 
The Golden Bears moved to a perfect 10-0 on their home court in 2023 while they won their 21^st in a row and 36^th in the last 37 against the Dragons to move to 36-8 in the all-time series.
 
CSP extended their streak to four straight matches over .425 hitting as they collected a staggering 58 kills (19.33 per set) over three sets of action. It matched their third highest kill total in three sets in the 25-point scoring format as they put up their largest total since tallying 60 at MSUM on Sept. 29, 2018. The Dragons finished with 24 kills and a .247 hitting percentage as Concordia added edges of 45-27 in digs and 10-6 in aces in the win.
 
Teagan Starkey's 51 assists (17.00 per set) fell just one shy of the three-set record in the 25-point format, trailing only Elizabeth Mohr's 52 assists in the 2018 road victory at MSUM. Three different hitters reached double digits in kills as senior Emma Schmidt led all players kills, digs and aces with 13 apiece in kills and digs to go along with a season-best four aces for her 11^th double-double of the year. Jasmine Mulvihill followed with 12 kills seven digs and a .455 hitting percentage while Sophia Andersen hit an even .400 to finish with 10 kills and two aces in two sets of action.
 
Senior Katie Mattson tallied eight kills on just 10 swings for a .700 hitting percentage while senior Makenna Berger collected seven kills on 10 swings to hit .600 in her lone set. Senior Jamie Guptill contributed eight kills of her own with a .417 mark on the day. Ellie Sieling joined Schmidt in double figures in digs with 12 while Payton Stier registered a pair of aces in the win.
 
Bridget Witzmann paced MSUM with 10 kills and nine digs in the loss.
 
The Golden Bears couldn't find much separation early in the first set as the score remained tied at 10-10 until an 13-3 run highlighted by six straight points gave CSP the lead for good at 23-13. Concordia eventually took the set by the same margin at 25-15.
 
An early 6-1 run in the second set turned a 3-3 tie into a 9-4 lead before CSP slowly added to their advantage from there. The lead would not shrink below five past the 14-9 mark as Concordia went on to match the first set final with another 25-15 set win.
 
Concordia appeared poised to cruise to a sweep in the third as they scored five of the first six points, but MSUM battled back down the stretch. With the CSP edge at five at 14-9, the Dragons scored six of eight to close the gap to one. They eventually made it all the way back to tie it up at 23-23 and erased match points at 24-23 and 25-24, but they were unable to go in front as the Golden Bears finished it off at 27-25.
 
CSP, who secured a first-round home match in the NSIC Tournament over the weekend by guaranteeing a top-four finish, will close out the regular season on the road next weekend at Sioux Falls and #6 Southwest Minnesota State.