DENVER, Colo. - Second-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball (6-0) continued its perfect start to the 2023 season with a pair of victories in pool play at the Colorado Premier Challenge on Friday night, topping #22 Western Washington and Ferris State (Mich.) in a pair of four-set victories.

The wins place the Golden Bears in the Gold Bracket of the event, scheduled to be played at MSU Denver on Saturday at 10 a.m. central time in a rematch of the 2022 NCAA Division II Championship against top-ranked West Texas A&M (6-0). The Lady Buffs won a pair of five-set victories in Friday against Lewis and sixth-ranked MSU Denver. CSP and WT will face the opposing semifinal teams, third-ranked Wayne State (6-0) and #13 West Florida (4-1), with the losing teams meeting in the third-place match at 5:30 p.m. and the winning teams squaring off in the title match at 8 p.m. (all times central).

Wayne State captured the Premier Challenge title in 2022, while Concordia has won the event seven times, most recently in 2016, 2018 and 2019. West Texas A&M has won it three times, most recently in 2012, while West Florida has yet to finish higher than third. The Golden Bears are 57-13 all-time at the tournament and have appeared in 10 title matches in 16 prior trips.

Jamie Guptill put an exclamation point on the wins with 19 kills while hitting .500 on 32 total attacks in the second match of the night against Ferris State.

Makenna Berger had a pair of double-digit kill performances, with 13 in the first match against Western Washington before adding 10 kills on a .562 hitting night in the second match against Ferris State. Teagan Starkey distributed 91 total assists in the eight sets, averaging 11.4 per set while Emma Schmidt totaled 34 digs including 20 against Western Washington.

MATCH 1: CSP 3, WWU 1
Western Washington welcomed the Golden Bears to Colorado with a resounding 25-16 first-set victory, leading the Golden Bears the entire first set. Concordia fell behind 8-2 early and never trimmed the set to closer than four points (4-8, 6-10, 12-16) despite Sophia Andersen's four kills on six swings in the opening set.

After being out-hit .400 to .200 in the first set, Concordia would hit at least .300 in each of the last three sets while not allowing WWU to hit higher than .206. And despite the first set featuring no lead changes and just one tie (1-1), the rest of the night would feature 18 ties and five lead changes with the fourth set being the closest, with 10 ties and four lead changes before CSP closed it out.

The Golden Bears turned the tables in the second set, scoring first and never trailing in the set with the only ties coming on the first three points. Jasmine Mulvihill ignited the attack with five kills on eight error-free swings and Andersen added four kills on five swings in set two to stay hot offensively.

In the third set, WWU looked to take early momentum again, scoring the first five points before the Golden Bears responded with a 5-0 run of their own. The Vikings continued to hold the upper hand, leading 15-10 past the midway point of the set. Facing a 17-13 deficit, Concordia rallied with five straight points, capitalizing on the serve from Emma Schmidt that gave CSP their first lead of the set. They wouldn't trail the rest of the way, either, sprinting away from an 18-18 tie with a 7-2 scoring run to win the set.

Andersen continued to roll with six kills, hitting .500 on 10 attacks in the set while Schmidt posted her third-straight set with five digs.

Concordia took the lead in the fourth set, and despite multiple ties, didn't allow WWU to take the lead. CSP opened up leads of 8-5 and 10-7 approaching the middle of the set, but WWU forced ties at 12, 14, and 15 to keep things close. CSP responded with a 3-0 spurt behind Starkey's serve including a service ace, and continued to hold a three-point edge at 20-17 late in the set.

WWU rallied, though, putting together a 5-0 scoring run to claim its first lead of the fourth set, 22-20 before the Golden Bears scored three in a row. After WWU tied at 23, CSP put home the final two points including the match-winner by Jamie Guptill.

Makenna Berger led the team in the fourth with five kills on eight attacks and Schmidt put up another five dig defensive effort as the team's libero.

Andersen had a match-high 16 kills overall, hitting .464 on 28 attacks with just three errors. Berger had 13 kills and hit .258 while Mulvilhill added 14 kills with a .400 hitting percentage. Starkey set an attack that featured three players with double-digit kills and a .304 team hitting percentage on 43 assists.

Delaney Speer and Devyn Oestreich each had double-doubles with 10 kills apiece, with Oestreich adding 12 digs to Speer's 10.

MATCH 2: CSP 3, FSU 1
In the nightcap, the Golden Bears and Bulldogs tangled for 27 ties and 13 lead changes in the four-set match, with the first set being the most contentious with 17 ties and eight lead changes. Concordia had the largest lead of the first set at just three points, a 9-6 advantage early on, but Ferris State took three different 2-point leads later in the set at 18-16, 20-18 and 21-19. From there, Ferris State's service error led to Cassie Sieling's ace to tie the game at 21 with a pair of key points off the serve. With a 23-23 tie, Jamie Guptill delivered a kill with CSP winning the set on FSU's attack error on set point.

Guptill had the hot hand early and continued through the rest of the match, terminating four kills on her first five error-free swings in the match as CSP was able to squeak out the win despite hitting .125 as a team with just nine kills while Ferris State hit .237 with 15 kills in the opener.

In the second set, the Bulldogs used an early 6-1 scoring run to claim a 9-5 advantage and never looked back as CSP wasn't able to cut it closer than two points the rest of the set. Guptill stayed hot in the second with four kills on nine attempts, hitting .333 despite the team hitting .079 compared to FSU's .312 percentage.

The third set saw Concordia hold early 5-3, 7-4 and 8-5 leads before the Bulldogs forced ties at 8, 11, and 12. Back-to-back kills by Guptill gave CSP a 14-12 lead that they wouldn't let go of the rest of the set, scoring the final five points for a 25-18 win to go ahead 2-1 in the match.

Guptill had a set-high five kills and despite CSP hitting under .200 again, the Golden Bears defended the Bulldogs better, limiting them to a .025 attack with eight kills and seven errors.

The Golden Bears had their top hitting performance of the match in the final set, hitting .343 with 17 kills to just five errors. After trailing 4-1 early on, CSP forced a tie at 7-7 amid a 9-1 scoring spurt that saw a 6-4 deficit turn into a 15-7 lead. CSP led by at least five points the rest of the set to secure the win.

Guptill finished the night how she started, red hot with six kills on eight swings without an error in the fourth while Makenna Berger added six kills on nine attacks including the match point kill.

Guptill had a match-high 19 kills, hitting .500 on 32 swings with just three errors on the evening, adding three blocks (one solo). Starkey finished with 48 assists, with 10 kills going to Berger on a .562 hitting night on 16 swings with just one error. Emma Schmidt led the defensive effort with 14 digs with Ellie Sieling adding 12.

CSP held a decisive edge on the serve with 10 aces with three each coming from Starkey, Cassie Sieling and Guptill while Ferris State had just three aces on the night that also included 10 service errors from the Bulldogs.

Concordia is now 2-2 against Ferris State all-time, winning the last two matches against the Bulldogs in 2019 and 2023. CSP improves to 6-0 against the Vikings with wins against WWU in back-to-back seasons in the Colorado Premier Challenge.