MARQUETTE, Mich. – The second-ranked Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (3-0) added two more wins on Friday as they claimed a four-set win (25-22, 25-21, 25-27, 25-15) over Michigan Tech in the UP Open in the afternoon before sweeping (25-23, 25-12, 27-25) Northern Michigan in the evening.
 
Concordia-St. Paul 3, Michigan Tech 1
After winning the first set by a score of 25-22, the two teams jostled for the lead for much of the second set as neither team led by more than two points until a 4-1 run for the Huskies gave MTU a 15-12 edge. Their lead remained at two at 20-18 until the Golden Bears rattled off seven of the final eight points to take a 2-0 with a 25-21 set win.
 
Concordia looked to complete the sweep in the third set as they built an early 7-4 advantage before extending the lead to four at 16-12. With the lead still at four at 21-17, Michigan Tech turned the tables with four points in a row to tie it before taking the lead at 23-22. CSP answered with two straight to force set point, but MTU took four of the next five to win the set 27-25.
 
In the fourth, the Golden Bears jumped out to a 5-3 lead and would not relinquish that lead for the rest of the set. That lead reached five at 12-7 and grew to eight at 20-12 before reaching double figures at the final margin of 25-15.
 
Full stats for the match will be available at a later date.
 
Concordia-St. Paul 3, Northern Michigan 0
In the third match of the weekend, efficiency proved to be the difference as CSP held a slim 38-37 edge in kills but committed half as many attack errors with 10 compared to NMU's 20. The result was a .304-.145 advantage in hitting percentage in the win. Concordia also held an 8-5 edge in service aces to go along with a 5.0-2.0 edge in blocks on the night.
 
Sophia Andersen paced all players with 12 kills while Emma Schmidt put up a match-best 12 digs in the win. Jasmine Mulvihill followed with eight digs and seven kills while Payton Stier matched her with eight digs to go along with two aces.
 
Jamie Guptill was nearly perfect offensively, turning her eight swings into seven kills to finish with an .875 hitting percentage. She added three digs, two digs and an ace in the victory. Makenna Berger chipped in six kills while Katie Mattson had five.
 
Evynn Layshock and Meghan Meyer led the Wildcats with 10 kills apiece in the loss.
 
The Wildcats grabbed the first two points of the match and built a 6-4 advantage before CSP took control with a 7-0 burst. Concordia expanded their lead to 16-10, but it wouldn't last as NMU compiled an extended 12-4 run to pull within three points of taking the first set at 22-20. The Golden Bears held them to just one more point, however, as a 5-1 run gave CSP a 25-23 set win.
 
The momentum carried over into the second as the Golden Bears scored the first nine points and didn't look back. They increased their advantage to double figures at 14-4 before cruising to a comfortable 25-12 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
It was more of the same in the third set as CSP grabbed four points in a row to kick things off before extending their lead with another 5-0 run a few points later to make it 10-3. For the second time in three sets, the Golden Bears saw the Wildcats flip the script in the middle of the set as Northern Michigan used a massive 12-3 run to turn a 17-12 CSP lead into a 24-20 lead of their own. Despite facing four consecutive set points, Concordia stayed alive with four points in a row to tie it up. After facing a fifth set point at 25-24, CSP took the next three to win the set 27-25 and the match 3-0.
 
CSP closes out play in the UP Open on Saturday morning with a 10:30 a.m. meeting with Hillsdale.