MARQUETTE, Mich. – The second-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (4-0) finished off a 4-0 weekend with a sweep (25-23, 25-21, 25-22) of Hillsdale (1-2) on Saturday morning at the UP Open.
 
Overall on the weekend, the Golden Bears took 12 of 13 sets against their Michigan foes as they moved to 4-0 for the third year in a row and the 11^th time in 20 seasons under head coach Brady Starkey.

Concordia's duo of Teagan Starkey and Jasmine Mulvihill each garnered UP Open All-Tournament Team honors as Starkey put up a league-leading 12.69 assists per set while Mulvihill hit an league-best .480 with 52 kills and just five errors on 98 attempts for an average of 4.00 kills per set.
 
The match proved to be much closer than the three-set win indicated as the match featured 35 ties and 14 lead changes throughout. CSP held slim advantages in nearly every category, including marks of 49-35 in kills, 43-33 in digs, 8.0-4.0 in blocks and a .300-.208 edge in hitting percentage.
 
Concordia featured a well-balanced attack with four players reaching double figures in kills as Teagan Starkey tallied 41 assists to go along with three digs and three blocks in the win. Sophia Andersen led the way with 13 kills and .500 hitting percentage and Katie Mattson followed with 12 kills and three blocks. Jasmine Mulvihill added 11 kills, eight digs and three aces while Makenna Berger chipped in 10 kills, seven digs and a pair of blocks in the win.
 
Emma Schmidt paced all players with 12 digs while Payton Stier contributed three digs and a pair of aces.
 
For the Chargers, it was Emory Braswell who finished with a team-high 10 kills while Lauren Passaglia put up 28 assists in the loss.
 
It was the Chargers that built an early lead in the opening set as they jumped out to a 6-3 advantage before the lead changed hands five times in the rest of the set. After Hillsdale turned a 19-18 CSP lead into a 21-20 lead of their own, CSP took the next three points to shift it back in their favor. HC tied it back up at 23-23, but the Golden Bears took care of business with back-to-back points to win it 25-23.
 
It was more of the same in the second until a timely 4-1 burst midway through the set gave Concordia the lead for good at 16-12. Hillsdale managed to close the gap to one at 18-17 and again at 20-19, but that would be all the closer they would get as the Golden Bears grabbed five of the final seven to take the set 25-21.

The Golden Bears fell behind early in the third as HC claimed four of the first five points before things evened back out for much of the set. With the score tied at 12-12, the Chargers jumped ahead with a 5-0 run, but it proved to be short-lived as the next seven points went in favor of Concordia to give CSP a 19-17. The momentum swings continued as Hillsdale answered with four in a row to regain the lead at 21-19 before CSP closed out the sweep with a 6-1 run to win the set 25-22.
 
Next weekend, Concordia heads west for the Colorado Premier Challenge. The Golden Bears will face #15 Western Washingon and Ferris State on Friday before continuing in bracket play on Saturday.