CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Seeking an NCAA record seventh consecutive championship, Concordia-St. Paul (34-3) defeated Wheeling Jesuit (38-6) in consecutive sets Friday night in the NCAA Division II national semifinals (25-11, 25-16, 25-12) at the US Cellular Center.
Concordia will play BYU-Hawaii (29-1) on Saturday in the national championship match. It marks the third meeting between the two schools, both coming last season and both resulting in Golden Bear wins. The last meeting came in the 2012 semifinals as CU won in four sets.The win improves Concordia's NCAA tournament win streak to 41 consecutive matches, as its all-time NCAA tournament record improves to 51-4 in 11 appearances. Concordia is now a perfect 8-0 in the national semifinals.
The Golden Bears were running on all cylinders as they hit .438 as a team and had five players in double figures in kills.
Emily McDonough led the way with a team-high 12 kills and 17 digs while Kayla Koenecke, Riley Hanson, Heather Schiller and Erienne Lauersdorf had 10 kills each. All four hit at least .350 in the match, with Koenecke and Schiller each hitting at least .500. Lauersdorf also chipped in four aces. Amanda Konetchy pass with machine-like precision as she assisted on 42 of Concordia's 54 kills. Taylor Dordan was also a big factor defensively with 13 digs.
