ST. PAUL, Minn. – The #2 Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (12-1, 3-1 NSIC) claimed their third consecutive sweep (25-16, 25-14, 25-15) in their NSIC home opener against Winona State (10-2, 3-1 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon at Gangelhoff Center.
 
CSP picked up their 34th win in the past 38 meetings with the Warriors as they improved to 36-11 in the all-time series. The Golden Bears controlled play in nearly every aspect of play as they held advantages of 41-22 in kills, 50-34 in digs, 10.0-2.0 in blocks and 7-2 in aces to aid their effort. Efficiency was also in Concordia's favor as they hit .364 or better in each of the final two sets to finish at .319 for the match while holding WSU to below .100 for all three sets for a mark of .041 overall.
 
Sophia Andersen and Jasmine Mulvihill combined for 23 of the team's 41 kills as Andersen led all players with 13 kills to go along with three blocks and three digs with a .407 hitting percentage on 27 attempts. Mulvihill was even more efficient as she hit .450 with 10 kills while adding six digs.
 
Andersen was one of three Golden Bears with at least three blocks as Claudia Stahlke contributed a career-best six blocks in her first career start while Teagan Starkey added three of her own. Stahlke added four kills and a pair of digs while Starkey put up 35 assists.
 
Emma Schmidt and Ellie Sieling each reached double figures in digs as Schmidt picked up a match-high 12 digs to go along with six kills and Sieling chipped in 11 digs and three aces in the victory.
 
Sidney Paulson paced the Warriors with nine kills while Jaci Winchell added 16 assists in the loss.
 
After seeing WSU take an early 3-2 lead in the first set, the Golden Bears responded with a 5-0 run to take the lead for good. The Warriors pulled within one several times over the next few points, but CSP slowly grew the lead from there. With the lead at 16-14, Concordia rattled off eight of the next nine points to cruise to a 25-16 set win.
 
Concordia carried that momentum into the second set with four of the first five, but WSU stemmed the tide as they took five of six to jump ahead 6-5. The two teams traded the next handful of points until CSP once again took control, this time with a 6-0 run as a part of a larger 15-2 burst to turn an 8-8 tie into a 23-10 lead. WSU got a few points back before the finish as the Golden Bears won the set 25-14 to extend their lead to 2-0.
 
It was another run midway through the third that proved to be the difference as CSP turned an early 6-3 deficit into a comfortable lead of seven points. The decisive stretch was an 8-0 run that turned an 8-7 WSU lead into a 15-8 edge for the Golden Bears. That lead would not shrink below five the rest of the way as they eventually pushed it to double figures at the final margin of 25-15.
 
Concordia is back on the road next weekend as they travel to MSU Moorhead on Friday and Northern State on Saturday.