ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 5 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (6-2, 1-0 NSIC) opened Northern Sun play at home against No. 12 Southwest Minnesota State (6-2, 0-1 NSIC) on Friday evening, beating the Mustangs in four sets at the Gangelhoff Center.
Concordia came out hot in the first two sets, winning by scores of 25-17 and 25-21. The Mustangs got one back with a 25-22 win in the third, but CSP hung on for a 25-23 win in the fourth to take the match.
Junior
Makenna Nold logged her second consecutive double-double, finishing with 19 kills, 14 digs, and three block assists. Nold now has 990 kills in her collegiate career and needs just 10 more to become the 25
th member of the 1,000-kill club at Concordia.
Senior
Julia Gordon set a new season high with 13 kills for the Bears, also adding six digs.
Kelsey Cooper joined Gordon with 13 digs on a team-high .444 hitting, also contributing five total blocks and a pair of digs.
Sophomore
Kaelyn Snoozy registered her second double-double of the season, tallying 11 kills and a career-high 17 digs.
At libero, sophomore
Josie Tingelhoff finished with 10 digs, while sophomore
Marta Leeland added nine.
Pacing the offense was the setter duo of
Reagan Hickey, who tallied 28 assists and four digs, and
Audrey Waterman, who added 25 assists, eight digs, and a block assist.
After working out to an 11-7 lead early in the first set, the Golden Bears began to pull away further, pushing their advantage as high as nine on the way to a 25-17 set win.
Set two was closer throughout, containing eight lead changes and 16 ties. The teams were knotted at 20-20 late in the set, but the Bears claimed five of the next six points to secure a 25-21 victory, putting them up 2-0 in the match. Both teams had their best offensive frame of the night in the second, as Concordia hit .395 with 19 kills and SMSU hit .333 with 16 kills.
The third set remained close for most of its duration, but a four-point run by the Mustangs broke a 16-16 tie to put SMSU in control on the way to a 25-22 win.
Set four proved to be yet another back-and-forth affair containing 10 ties and six lead changes. Tied at 20-20 late in the set, Concordia won four of the next five points, including back-to-back kills from senior
Mehlayna Straub, to take a 24-21 lead. The Mustangs made things interesting with two straight points to threaten CSP's match point opportunity, but Nold slammed the door with a kill to help the Bears escape with a four-set win.
As a team, the Concordia offense hit .253 with 63 kills on 174 attacks, while SMSU hit just .191 with 57 kills on 178 attacks. CSP also led in aces (4-3), blocks (10-7), and assists (58-55).
With the win, Concordia improves its all-time record against SMSU to 45-28-1, including a mark of 23-12 when playing at home.
The Golden Bears will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they host Sioux Falls (4-5, 0-1 NSIC) at 5 p.m.
