ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 5 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (11-3, 6-1 NSIC) moved to 4-0 at home this season with a sweep of Minnesota State (4-11, 2-5 NSIC) on Tuesday evening at the Gangelhoff Center.
The Golden Bears dominated the first two sets and hung on for a 25-22 win in the third to complete the three-setter.
Sophomore
Kaelyn Snoozy was the only Golden Bear to finish in double figures on offense, tallying her sixth double-double of the season with 11 kills on a .409 hitting percentage to go along with 13 digs.
The trio of
Julia Gordon,
Mehlayna Straub, and
Kelsey Cooper added eight kills each, with Straub also leading the team with three total blocks.
Junior
Makenna Nold and freshman
Abby Rolbiecki tied for second on the team with 11 digs, and Nold added seven kills and three assists.
Libero
Marta Leeland led all players in the match with five aces, also contributing seven digs to match
Josie Tingelhoff on defense.
Setter
Audrey Waterman paced the offense with 22 assists and three aces of her own, while
Reagan Hickey added 14 assists.
As a team, the Golden Bears hit .370 with 44 kills on 100 swings, while the Mavericks were limited to a .143 hitting clip with 28 kills on 105 swings. Concordia also found an edge on serve-receive, tallying a season-high 11 aces to Minnesota State's six.
Tied at 6-6 early in the opening frame, Concordia broke the set open with points on 11 of the next 12 serves, including a run of eight straight, to take a commanding 16-7 lead. The advantage ballooned to as many as 13 before CSP claimed a 25-13 win. The Golden Bears were exceptionally efficient on offense in the set, hitting .481 with 13 kills and no errors on 27 swings.
Set two played out in a similar fashion, as CSP broke a 7-7 tie with a run of 10 points in the next 12 serves to carve out a 16-9 advantage. The Golden Bears never looked back from that point, cruising to yet another 25-13 win that gave them a 2-0 advantage in the match.
The Bears found themselves trailing late in set three, as the Mavericks used a run of three consecutive points to take a 17-13 lead. Concordia began to chip away from that point on, managing to tie it back up at 20 before finally regaining control at 22-21 in what proved to be the final lead change of the night. CSP finished strong with a 5-1 run that included a pair of kills from Nold, one kill from Snoozy, and an ace from Leeland to escape with a 25-22 win and complete the sweep.
The win marked Concordia's 21
st straight over Minnesota State in a streak that dates back to 2014.
The Golden Bears will remain home for a pair of conference matches this weekend, as they are set to host No. 19 Minnesota Duluth on Friday and Bemidji State on Saturday.
