CEDARVILLE, Ohio – The top-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (1-1) opened the 2026 campaign with two matches on Friday at the Cedarville Invitational, topping #23 Gannon (1-1) in four sets before falling to #24 Missouri St. Louis (1-1) in five sets on the campus of Cedarville University.
MATCH ONE: Concordia 3, Gannon 1
The Golden Bears opened the day with a rematch of last season's NCAA Tournament match against #23 Gannon, with the Golden Bears using a four-set win to improve to 3-0 all-time against the Knights.
CSP won the first two sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-23 before Gannon took the third set by a score of 25-22. The Golden Bears rebounded from there, taking the fourth set 25-22 to win the match in four sets.
Junior
Kelsey Cooper proved to be Concordia's most efficient attack option in the match, hitting .500 with 11 kills on 22 swings while also adding seven digs, three block assists, and two aces.
Senior
Mehlayna Straub finished with 10 kills at an efficient .474 hitting clip, and junior
Makenna Nold led the team in kills with 14, also adding a team-high five aces.
Sophomore
Kaelyn Snoozy led the defensive effort with 11 digs, and fellow sophomore
Josie Tingelhoff also reached double figures with 10 digs of her own.
Reagan Hickey and
Audrey Waterman continued to split time at setter for the Bears, with Hickey tallying 23 assists and Waterman adding 19 in the win.
As a unit, Concordia hit .205 with 49 kills while Gannon hit .194 with 59 kills. The Golden Bears also held advantages in blocks (11-6) and aces (9-5).
Despite an early 10-point run that put CSP up 11-2 in the first set, the Golden Bears found themselves leading by just a point at 19-8 after a strong push by the Knights. CSP regained firm control at that point, winning six of the next seven points to take the set 25-19.
Tied at 17 each in the second set, Concordia claimed the following two points to take a narrow advantage that would hold for the remainder of the set as the Bears escaped with a 25-23 win to go up 2-0 in the match.
After dropping the third set, the Golden Bears looked to be in danger of doing the same in set four as they trailed 21-19 late. Concordia finished strong once again, however, claiming six of the next seven points to win the set 25-22 and take the match in four sets.
MATCH TWO: UMSL 3, Concordia 2
Playing their second ranked opponent of the day in a match against #24 Missouri St. Louis, the Golden Bears fell in five sets in what was the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
Straub led the way on offense for the Bears, tallying 14 kills and adding four block assists. Fellow senior
Julia Gordon also turned in a strong performance, finishing with 12 kills.
Nold set a new career high with 22 digs in the match, also collecting 11 kills to finish with a double-double. Cooper was the only other Golden Bear in double figures on offense with 11 kills on .333 hitting.
Defensively, Tingelhoff had 12 digs for Concordia and Snoozy neared a double-double with 12 digs and nine kills.
Waterman played a majority of the match at setter, collecting a career-high 49 assists.
The Tritons dominated the back half of the opening set, breaking a 9-9 tie early and cruising to a 25-12 win. Set two was a back-and-forth affair with each team putting together multiple runs of five straight points or more, but Concordia managed the stronger finish with five of the final seven points to claim a 26-24 win and even the match.
An eight-point run by the Tritons in the middle of set three proved to be too much to overcome as UMSL took the set 25-18. Concordia was in the driver's seat for the entirety of set four, winning the first three points of the set and maintaining a narrow advantage throughout on the way to a 25-20 win to send the match to a decisive fifth set.
The Tritons came out stronger in set five, taking a 10-3 lead while looking poised to take the set comfortably. CSP rattled off three in a row from there to cut the deficit to four at 10-6, but that proved to be as close as things would get with UMSL winning five of the next six to take the set 15-7 and win the match in five sets.
The Golden Bears will wrap up their trip to Ohio tomorrow, taking on host Cedarville at 12:30 p.m. CT.
