ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 11 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (10-3, 6-0 NSIC) won its seventh straight match and kept its flawless Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference record alive on Friday evening at the Gangelhoff Center, defeating Augustana (8-6, 2-4 NSIC) in straight sets by scores of 25-23, 25-16, and 25-12.

Friday's match marked the 34^th all-time meeting between the Golden Bears and Vikings and CSP now holds a dominant 32-2 edge in the series. Concordia has won the last six matchups dating back to 2022 and holds a perfect record of 17-0 in meetings between the two teams at the Gangelhoff Center.

The Concordia offense dominated throughout the match, logging 48 kills with just 12 errors on 90 attacks for a .400 hitting percentage. Comparatively, the Viking offense had just 28 kills with 11 errors on 87 attempts for a .195 hitting percentage. The Bears also matched their season high with 10 service aces for the second consecutive match.  On defense, Concordia boasted another significant advantage with a 42-26 edge in digs.

The opening set was tightly contested early on, with the two teams playing to a 16-16 tie. The Golden Bears created some breathing room for themselves at that point, putting together a 6-2 run to carve out a 22-18 lead. The Vikings won five of the following six points to knot it back up at 23-23, but back-to-back kills from sophomore Makenna Nold sealed the set for Concordia. CSP held a significant offensive advantage in the first frame, finishing with 18 kills on .324 hitting while Augustana tallied 11 kills on a .273 hitting percentage.

Concordia held the edge early in the second set, working out to an early 6-1 lead. The Vikings never cut the deficit to anything less than four from that point on with the Bears leading by as many as 10 on the way to a 25-16 set win. The Golden Bears were even more efficient in the second set, posting a .393 hitting percentage with 14 kills while Augustana hit just .143 with nine kills.

The third set looked to be competitive early on as the teams played to a 6-6 tie, but Concordia blew it open with 11 points in the following 12 serves, including four kills from freshman Kaelyn Snoozy, to take a commanding 17-7 lead. CSP remained firmly in control from that point, cruising to a 25-12 win to complete the sweep. The Concordia attack was outright dominant in the third frame, logging 15 kills on a .500 hitting percentage while the defense limited Augustana to just eight kills on .154 hitting.

Nold was pivotal in the victory for CSP, matching her career high for a three-set match with 16 kills while posting a .444 hitting percentage. The sophomore was also active in other areas, contributing six digs and four service aces for a total of 20 points.

Junior middle blocker Mehlayna Straub also reached double figures on offense, logging 11 kills on .412 hitting while adding a pair of block assists. Snoozy matched Straub on offense, turning 18 attacks into 11 kills and just two errors for a .500 hitting percentage, the best mark of her young career. Middle blocker Kelsey Cooper finished the match with five kills, a dig, and a pair of solo blocks for CSP.

Defensively, senior Ellie Sieling led the way with 15 digs while also adding five kills and a service ace. Libero Cassie Sieling added eight digs and three service aces of her own.

At setter, sophomore Reagan Hickey finished with 24 set assists and four digs while redshirt freshman Audrey Waterman had 19 set assists, two block assists, and a dig.

For the Vikings, senior Brooke Berens led the way offensively with eight kills. 

The Golden Bears will return to the friendly confines of the Gangelhoff Center tomorrow evening, taking on No. 9 Wayne State (13-2, 6-0 NSIC) in a marquee NSIC matchup on CSP's homecoming Saturday.