ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 5 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (12-4, 7-2 NSIC) capped off its four-match homestand with a five-set win over Bemidji State (13-4, 5-4 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon at the Gangelhoff Center.
After alternating set wins by scores of 25-20 in each of the first three sets, Bemidji State held a 2-1 lead in the match. Concordia rallied in the final two sets, claiming 25-15 and 15-9 wins to escape with the victory.
Junior
Makenna Nold had her strongest match of the season, tallying 24 kills, 12 digs, eight total blocks, and two aces while hitting .321. Her eight blocks matched her career high, while her 24 kills were the fourth most in a match for her career. With 31 total points in the match, Nold notched a new career best.
Junior
Kelsey Cooper ranked second on the team with 15 kills on an efficient .480 hitting clip, and she also chipped in four block assists and three digs. Fellow junior
Julia Gordon added 12 kills on .379 hitting.
Mehlayna Straub was second on the team with five total blocks while adding nine kills.
Freshman
Kaydence White got her first taste of collegiate action in the match, finishing with three kills and a dig.
On the defensive side, sophomore
Kaelyn Snoozy led the way with 15 digs for CSP.
Marta Leeland also finished in double figures with 11 digs.
Junior
Reagan Hickey paced the offense with 29 assists and also contributed six digs.
Audrey Waterman was just behind her with 28 assists.
For the match, Concordia hit .308 with 66 kills and 18 errors while BSU hit .259 with 63 kills and 21 errors. The Golden Bears also managed a significant defensive edge at the net with a 12-7 advantage in blocks.
The Beavers held a slim advantage for much of the opening set and looked poised to blow it wide open with a five-point run that made it 19-13 in favor of BSU. The Golden Bears rallied with a 6-1 run of their own to cut the deficit to a single point at 20-19, but that proved to be as close as they would get with the Beavers winning five of the next six points to take the set 25-20.
Trailing 7-3 in the second set, Concordia flipped the script with an 8-2 run to take an 11-9 advantage. That proved to be the final lead change in the set as CSP maintained a narrow advantage the rest of the way en route to a 25-20 win of their own. Set three was almost a perfect inverse, with BSU taking an early 8-5 lead and clinging to it the rest of the way, eventually claiming yet another 25-20 set win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Golden Bears were in command from the opening serve of set four, working out to an 11-3 lead and never looking back. The Concordia lead ballooned as high as 11, with CSP eventually claiming a 25-15 win that forced a fifth set.
Bemidji State kept things close throughout most of the fifth set, but the Golden Bears found a new gear late with five straight points, including two kills from Nold, one each from Straub and Cooper, and a block by Nold and Cooper, to complete the comeback with a 15-9 win.
The Golden Bears will head north for a road trip next weekend with matches at MSU Moorhead on Friday and at Minnesota Crookston on Saturday.
