MN Laden Concordia-St. Paul Advances to DII Championship Match
The Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team, a roster comprised of former high school athletes all hailing from the state of Minnesota, earned another 3-0 victory Friday evening to advance to the NCAA DII finals for the second consecutive season. The win…
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Continue ReadingThe Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team, a roster comprised of former high school athletes all hailing from the state of Minnesota, earned another 3-0 victory Friday evening to advance to the NCAA DII finals for the second consecutive season. The win earns the Golden Bears a chance to repeat as National Champion. Concordia advances by defeating the Rockhurst Hawks with set scores of 25-17, 25-23, and 31-29.
Concordia outperformed Rockhurst offensively in both kills (54-42) and attack percentage (.250-.138). For the second match in as many nights, the Golden Bears had great balance led by the 54 assists from junior All-American Elizabeth Mohr (Eden Prairie, MN). Junior Hope Schiller (Anoka, MN) terminated 15 kills to lead all Golden Bears attackers. All-Americans Brooklyn Lewis (Kasson, MN) and Mariya Sampson (Brooklyn Park, MN) added 13 and 10 kills respectively as Concordia also got eight kills each from Sydney Book (Red Wing, MN) and Shelby Seurer (Delano, MN). Defensively, four Golden Bears earned double-digit digs. Freshman Tori Hanson (Delano, MN) led Concordia with 15 digs, while Mohr and freshman Erin Fallert (Maplewood, MN) each picked up 13. Schiller added 11 digs to go along with her match leading eight blocks.
After falling behind 1-2 early in set one, the Golden Bears reeled off four points for a 5-2 lead. Rockhurst countered to tie the game at 5-5 only to see Concordia regain a lead they would not relinquish on their way to the 25-17 win. The next two sets were highly contested as Rockhurst jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Concordia was able to tie things up at 9-9. After trading points and the score knotted at 11-11 following a Sampson kill, Rockhurst would gain control to take a late-game 22-18 lead. Kills from Schiller and Sampson, followed by two more from Seurer, saw the Golden Bears once again tie up the score. A Rockhurst attack error would give Concordia a rare set-two lead at 23-22. The Hawks then earned a kill of their own to tie it up at 23-23 before Sampson closed it out for the Golden Bears with consecutive kills. Set three needed extra points as the score was tight from the first serve. Down 0-2 in sets, Rockhurst would not roll over as they gained control late with a 19-16 lead before Concordia shifted momentum and rallied to tie it up at 20-20. The teams traded points until the Golden Bears jumped ahead to a 24-22 lead and their first match point. Two Rockhurst kills and a Concordia error quickly saw the Hawks with their first set point and an opportunity to extend the match. After three more set point opportunities for the Hawks, an attack error notched set three at 28-28. Lewis then connected on her 13th kill of the match to give the Golden Bears their second match point only to see Rockhurst earn it back with a kill of their own to force the final tie of the contest. A Rockhurst attack error awarded Concordia match point number three, which proved to be the charm as another attack error by the Hawks concluded set three and secured the victory for the Golden Bears.
With the win, Concordia (33-3) advances to Saturday’s National Championship where they will face Florida Southern (30-6), a 3-2 winner over Gannon in the first semifinal. This will be the 10th championship match appearance for the Golden Bears as they are seeking their ninth title in 11 years.