WINONA, Minn. – The No. 5 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (9-3, 4-1 NSIC) got back in the win column with a sweep of Winona State (2-9, 1-4 NSIC) on Thursday evening at McCown Gymnasium.
The win marked Concordia's eighth straight over Winona State, with five of those eight victories coming in straight sets.
Senior
Mehlayna Straub carried much of the load offensively, pacing the team with 11 kills on a .524 hitting percentage. Straub also led the defensive effort at the net with a team-high five total blocks.
Julia Gordon,
Makenna Nold, and
Kaelyn Snoozy finished with eight kills each, with Nold adding 11 digs and four blocks, and Snoozy chipping in eight digs.
Freshman
Abby Rolbiecki anchored the back row with a team-leading 12 digs.
At setter,
Reagan Hickey tallied 17 assists, and
Audrey Waterman added 15.
For the match, CSP hit .351 with 40 kills and limited the Warriors to a .165 clip with 31 kills. The service line provided a significant edge for the Bears as they tallied 10 aces to WSU's two. Concordia also led in assists (39-29), blocks (8-4), and digs (42-34).
After the Warriors used a kill to pull within two points at 8-6 early in the opening set, the Golden Bears took firm control with a four-point run to put them up 12-6. The CSP advantage continued to grow throughout the set as they cruised to a 25-13 win.
In the second set, Concordia worked out to a 5-1 lead and never looked back, pushing the advantage to as many as 11 on multiple occasions on the way to a 25-14 win.
The Golden Bears once again carved out an early lead in the third set, winning six of the first eight points. The Warriors hung around and managed to pull within three points four separate times, but that proved to be all they could do as Concordia turned a 21-18 lead into a 25-18 win on a run of four straight points.
For the Warriors, Zoe Haan guided the way on offense with 13 kills.
The Golden Bears will return home to host No. 13 St. Cloud State (9-4, 3-2 NSIC) on Saturday at 2 p.m.
