MARQUETTE, Mich. – The #2 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (1-0) opened the 2023 season with a sweep (25-13, 25-22, 25-17) of Lake Superior State (0-1) on Thursday afternoon in the UP Open on the campus of Northern Michigan.
 
CSP improved to 17-3 in season openers as the Golden Bears made it three consecutive opening match wins while improving to 3-1 all-time against the Lakers.
 
It was a consistent offensive effort from the Golden Bears as they hit .326 or better in all three sets to finish with 47 kills and a .367 hitting percentage in the match. Concordia also held LSSU to 31 kills and .191 hitting while adding a 7-2 edge in aces and a 5-4 edge in blocks.
 
Jasmine Mulvihill kicked off her season with a match-high 16 kills on an efficient .583 mark while she also chipped in six digs. Emma Schmidt fell just short of double figures with nine kills to go along with seven digs and two blocks while Katie Mattson chipped in seven kills of her own.
 
Ellie Sieling paced the squad with nine digs while Payton Stier contributed six of her own in addition to a pair of aces in the win. Teagan Starkey led the way with 29 assists.
 
Rachel Steele finished with a team-best eight kills for the Lakers while LSSU's Emily Hagelthorn led all players with 10 digs.
 
Concordia came out firing in the opening set with six of the first seven points and 11 of the first 13 as they led from start to finish. A 6-1 run later in the set stretched the lead to a dozen at 22-10 before CSP took the set by the same margin at 25-13.
 
In the second, a 6-1 run in favor of the Lakers turned a 4-3 Golden Bear lead into a 9-5 advantage for Lake Superior State. That lead remained at four at 14-10 before four straight for Concordia tied it and eight of 10 put CSP in front 18-16. LSSU regained the lead at 21-19 with a 4-0 run of their own, but the Golden Bears claimed six of the last seven points to win the set 25-22.
 
Concordia picked up where they left off to start the third set as they quickly claimed a 7-3 lead before maintaining an edge the rest of the way. CSP's lead fluctuated from three to five until a late 4-0 burst sealed the sweep with a 25-17 win in the set.
 
The Golden Bears are back in action tomorrow with a 1 p.m. start against Michigan Tech before taking on hosts Northern Michigan at 6 p.m.