ST. PAUL, Minn. – Powered by a career-high 32 digs from Cassie Sieling and a balanced offensive effort, the #9 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (18-4, 13-1 NSIC) defeated #11 Wayne State College (19-5, 11-3 NSIC) in four sets at the Gangelhoff Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Bears started strong with a 25-20 win in the opening set, but the Wildcats responded with a 25-20 win of their own in the second set. Concordia went on to take set three 25-18 and set four 25-21 to claim the 3-1 win. With the victory, Concordia now owns a 37-17 advantage in the all-time series against Wayne State, snapping a two-match losing streak that began last season.

The Golden Bear offense hit .258 with 70 kills as a unit, while the Wildcats hit just .188 with 42 kills. Concordia also finished with an 8-5 edge in blocks, a 9-3 advantage in service aces, a 79-69 edge in digs, and a 68-38 advantage in assists.

Libero Cassie Sieling had the strongest outing of her career, tallying 32 digs to top her previous high of 24 set twice earlier this season. The junior also added five assists and a pair of service aces. Her 32 digs are the sixth-most in a four-set match in program history, and tied for the 15th-most in any match in Golden Bear history. 

Emma Schmidt was outstanding on both offense and defense, logging an 18-dig, 14-kill double-double for CSP.

Makenna Nold led the offense with 18 kills against just four errors on 40 attacks for a .350 hitting percentage. She was also an asset on defense, adding six block assists and six digs. Sophia Andersen was just behind her with 17 kills.

Claudia Stahlke and Mehlayna Straub added 10 kills each on .320 and .333 hitting, respectively, with Stahlke also leading the team with seven block assists.

Setter Teagan Starkey finished with a match-leading 61 set assists, also adding eight digs and three service aces.

The Golden Bears worked out to an early 7-3 lead in the opening frame and held a narrow advantage for the remainder of the set, winning the final three points to claim a 25-20 win. CSP hit .314 with 16 kills in the set while Wayne hit .206 with 11 kills.

Tied at 10-10 in set two, Wayne State won seven of the next points to take a 17-13 lead that would hold on the way to a 25-20 win to pull even in the match.

Trailing 17-16 late in set three, the Golden Bears showed resilience in winning nine of the following 10 points to claim the set 25-18 and take a 2-1 advantage in the match. The Golden Bears hit .265 with 19 kills as a team while holding Wayne State to just eight kills on a .098 hitting percentage.

Tied at 18 each in the fourth set following a run of five straight points by the Wildcats, Concordia slammed the door with seven of the next 10 points to win the set 25-21 and secure the four-set triumph. The CSP offense held the edge once again, hitting .200 with 17 kills while the Wildcats hit .152 with 10 kills.

The Golden Bears will remain at home next week, hosting Minnesota Duluth on Friday and #3 St. Cloud State on Saturday.