DULUTH, Minn. - The tenth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (6-3, 1-0 NSIC) opened Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play on Saturday afternoon at #11 Minnesota Duluth (7-2, 0-2 NSIC), pulling off a reverse sweep of the Bulldogs to win the match 3-2.
The Bulldogs claimed comfortable 25-19 and 25-21 victories in the first two sets, but the Golden Bears stormed back with 25-19, 25-23, and 15-12 wins in the final three sets to complete the reverse sweep.
Concordia held an early 12-10 lead in set one, but the Bulldogs won nine of the following 11 points to give themselves enough cushion to eventually take the set 25-19. The Bulldogs held a narrow advantage for most of set two, claiming a 25-21 set win to take a 2-0 advantage in the match.
Faced with the possibility of a Bulldog sweep, the Golden Bears broke a 17-17 tie late in the third and claimed eight of the following ten points to win the set 25-19. CSP hit .306 as a team in the frame while UMD hit just .091.
Mehlayna Straub tallied six kills on her six attempts for a perfect. 1.00 hitting percentage in the set.
Leading by a single point at 22-21 late in the fourth, CSP got crucial kills from
Claudia Stahlke, Straub, and
Ellie Sieling to escape with a 25-23 win and send the match to a decisive fifth set.
Concordia won five consecutive points to open the fifth set and never looked back, leading wire-to-wire and securing a 15-12 win to complete the reverse sweep.
As a team, the Golden Bears hit .247 with 66 kills while the Bulldogs hit just .192 with 56 kills. CSP had 15.0 total blocks as a unit, the ninth most in a five-set match in school history, while UMD had 10.0.
Stahlke was dominant for Concordia, finishing with 15 kills, 11 block assists, and two solo blocks while hitting .500. Her 13 total blocks were the most in a five-set match in program history, besting the previous record of 11 held by Tia Lindberg in 2003 and Heather Schiller in 2015, and her 11 block assists also set a new school record in a five-set match. The senior leads the NSIC with 57 total blocks (.154 per set) this season.
Straub led the offensive effort for the Bears, tallying 17 kills while hitting at a .471 clip.
Reigning NSIC Setter of the Week
Teagan Starkey had another strong outing, logging a 53-assist, 11-dig double-double for Concordia.
Outside hitter
Sophia Andersen registered a 10-kill, 13 dig double-double for CSP, also adding six block assists.
Libero
Cassie Sieling anchored the back row with a new career-high 24 digs.
Makenna Nold chipped in eight kills, six block assists, and eight digs for CSP.
The win extended the Golden Bears' winning streak over UMD to nine matches. CSP now holds a 35-25 advantage in the series all-time against the Bulldogs, including a 13-12 edge in Duluth.
Concordia will be back in action on Tuesday in St. Cloud, Minnesota, taking on #12 St. Cloud State at 6 p.m.
