ABERDEEN, S.D. – The No. 9 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (18-4, 14-1 NSIC) earned its seventh consecutive sweep with a dominant road victory over No. 22 Northern State (17-6, 9-6 NSIC) by scores of 25-20, 25-16, and 25-18 on Friday evening at Wachs Arena.

Sophomore outside hitter Makenna Nold once again led the Golden Bears' balanced attack with 12 kills on .300 hitting, also adding three service aces and eight digs for a match-high 16 points. Junior Mehlayna Straub was extremely efficient for the Bears with seven kills on .500 hitting, while freshman Kaelyn Snoozy added nine kills at a .286 clip.

Sophomore Ellie Sieling filled the stat sheet with eight kills, 15 digs, and a solo block, while Kelsey Cooper chipped in five kills, two aces, and three block assists for 8.5 points.

Setters Reagan Hickey and Audrey Waterman steered the CSP offense smoothly, combining for 34 assists. Hickey tallied 20 assists and nine digs, while Waterman added 14 assists, two kills, and two digs.

Defensively, libero Cassie Sieling provided stability in the back row with 13 digs and a service ace, and senior Natalee Rolbiecki added 10 digs.

CSP hit .269 as a team, tallying 43 kills with 14 errors on 108 attacks, while holding Northern State to a .132 hitting percentage with 35 kills and 19 errors on 121 swings. The Bears were also dominant at the service line with a 6-0 edge in service aces.

With the score tied at eight each early in the opening frame, the Bears found a groove as they claimed six of the following seven points to open a 14-9 advantage. From there, the CSP lead never dropped below four points and reached as many as seven points on the way to a 25-20 set win.

Concordia took control early in set two, jumping out to a 10-4 lead thanks to a strong serving run by Nold that included three aces in the span of four serves. The Wolves got within three points with a 5-3 run that made it 12-9, but the Bears continued to steadily increase their breathing room from there, outscoring NSU 13-7 the rest of the way to take the set 25-16.

In the third set, it was Northern State coming out hot as the Wolves managed to carve out a 5-2 lead. The Golden Bears began to chip away, taking their first lead in the set at 9-8. Shortly after, a 7-0 Golden Bear run behind Rolbiecki's serve put them firmly in control at 18-10. It was Straub and Snoozy eventually sealing the match for Concordia with back-to-back kills to clinch the sweep, 25-18.

For Northern State, Linnea Nesheim led the way with 11 kills and seven digs, while Natalia Szybinska added seven kills and three digs, and Abby Schauer paced the defense with 15 digs. Setter Ava Nilsson finished with 31 assists and seven digs.

The Golden Bears will wrap up their weekend road trip on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Jamestown (N.D.) for a conference matchup with the Jimmies.