ST. PAUL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul senior libero Cassie Sieling became the 24^th Golden Bear to reach 1,000 career digs as No. 10 CSP (14-4, 10-1 NSIC) took down No. 25 Minnesota State (16-3, 8-3 NSIC) in straight sets by scores of 25-19, 25-19, and 25-20 at the Gangelhoff Center on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, Concordia extended its active winning streak against MSU to 20 matches and improved its all-time record against the Mavericks to 38-4 with a perfect mark of 20-0 at the Gangelhoff Center.

Minnesota State jumped out to an early 11-6 advantage in the opening set before Concordia turned the momentum with a 6-0 run behind strong serving from Audrey Waterman to take a 12-11 lead. The Mavericks continued to hold a slight advantage for the following few serves and led at 18-17, but another 6-0 Concordia run on the serve of Cassie Sieling put the Bears in the drivers' seat with a 23-18 lead that would hold for the remainder of the set.

In set two, the Mavericks once again led early as they held a narrow edge at 11-10, but a run of seven Concordia points in the following eight serves put CSP on top at 17-12. MSU battled back to pull within two points at 17-15, but the Golden Bears finished the set strong with an 8-4 run to win by a score of 25-19 yet again.

In the third frame, CSP built an early 10-5 cushion, but an 8-3 Maverick surge tied the set at 13-13 shortly after. Concordia regained control at that point, winning eight of the next nine points to create breathing room with a score of 21-14. The Mavericks threatened with a four-point run to cut the deficit to three at 22-19, but Concordia responded with a 3-1 run to complete the sweep.

The Golden Bears hit .296 on the night with 48 kills against just 14 errors on 115 swings while limiting the Mavericks to .142 hitting with 33 kills and 17 errors on 113 attempts. CSP added five service aces and five total blocks in the match and had a 59-46 edge in digs and a 45-32 advantage in assists.

Libero Cassie Sieling put together a strong match to coincide with her career milestone, logging 15 digs to put her at 1,004 for her career while adding an ace and four set assists.

Sophomore Makenna Nold led all players with 16 kills while hitting .351 and adding 12 digs, two blocks, and a service ace for 18.0 total points. Junior Mehlayna Straub and senior Ellie Sieling each tallied 10 kills, with Straub hitting .316 and Sieling contributing 10 digs and a block. Kaelyn Snoozy added six kills, two blocks, and a dig, while Kelsey Cooper posted four kills, four block assists, and seven digs.

The setting tandem of Audrey Waterman and Reagan Hickey combined for 40 assists, with Waterman recording 22 assists, three aces, and two kills, and Hickey adding 18 assists and three digs.

For Minnesota State, Emily Kern led the way with eight kills and three blocks, while Avery Klein added seven kills and four digs. Setter Jadyn Lester tallied 26 assists and seven digs, and libero Ellie Kline notched a match-high 17 digs.

The Golden Bears will have three matches next week, playing at Winona State on Tuesday evening before hosting Umary and Minot State over the weekend.