No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul 3, Bemidji State 0
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Concordia-St. Paul (15-1, 7-0 NSIC) extended their NSIC regular-season winning streak to 21 matches with a sweep of the Bemidji State Beavers (5-10, 1-6 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon. Concordia remains undefeated in conference play this season and has now won 13 matches in a row overall.
Concordia wasted no time gaining the upper hand in the first set, taking control using a five point run in the middle of the set to build a double digit lead at 17-7. CU wouldn't let up, taking the first set 25-12. Emily McDonough got the Golden Bears going early with six kills on 10 attempts in the first set.
The Golden Bears used the same formula in the second set by using a big 8-1 run to turn an early 4-4 tie into a 12-5 lead. The lead would balloon out to 20-8 before the Beavers cut it back to single digits. BSU's rally came too late as CU took the set 25-16.
Bemidji State wouldn't let an early 6-1 deficit put a damper on a potential comeback. Concordia held a lead of about five for much of the set and eventually looked to be pulling away with an 18-12 lead but BSU evened the scored at 20 following an 8-2 run of their own. The Beavers took their first lead of the set at 24-23 with a chance to send the match to a fourth set but a Kayla Koenecke kill brought CU back even at 24. A Beaver attack error gave the Golden Bears a match point opportunity but a kill from Jessica Yost tied it up again at 25. Koenecke forced another match point with a kill and was unable to put it away on the next point, commiting an error. She responded with another kill and Erienne Lauersdorf closed it out with a kill to give the Golden Bears the decisive 28-26 win in the set and a 3-0 win in the match.
No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth 3, Winona State 0
DULUTH, Minn. -- Minnesota-Duluth continued its homecoming weekend with another three-set Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference sweep against Winona State, extending its home winning streak to 20 matches on Saturday afternoon.
The Bulldogs (15-1, 6-1 NSIC) rolled with double-digit victories in the first two sets, but Winona State (5-11, 2-5 NSIC) made the final set interesting before UMD pulled away late to win the match 25-15, 25-13, 25-21. The Warriors have just one victory in 70 all-time matches against the Bulldogs. The match featured just three lead changes, and UMD did not trail in the entire second set.
A trio of Bulldogs each tallied double-digit kills. Freshman middle blocker Sydnie Mauch led UMD with 13, while senior outside hitter Kate Lange and sophomore outside hitter Mariah Scharf each added ten. In addition, Lange led the Bulldogs with four of the team's 13 blocks on the afternoon. Sophomore setter Ashley Hinsch collected 40 assists, while a pair of Bulldogs, junior outside hitter Katie Ledwell and junior libero Julie Rainey each added double-digit digs. Rainey led the way with 26 in the match, while Ledwell had 17. Defensively, UMD held Winona State to an .085 hitting percentage.
No. 3 Tampa 3, Eckerd 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- After a rocky first set, No. 3 Tampa defeated Eckerd 3-1 on Saturday to remain perfect in Sunshine State Conference play.
With the victory, the Spartans improve to 12-1 with a 4-0 record in SSC matchups while the host Tritons dip to 8-5 with a 2-3 mark in conference.
The UT defense lead the match as the squad totaled 15 team blocks, led by middle blockers Meagan Burke and Jessica Wagner. Sophomore Wagner blocked seven while Burke stopped six.
The offense was paced by outside hitters Holly Reschke and Berkley Whaley, as the one-two punch posted double-doubles in the four-set win. The duo grounded 12 kills each as Whaley tallied 15 digs to Reschke’s 13. Junior Kahley Patrick provided the tempo with 35 assists to manage the Spartan’s hitting corps.
No. 4 Central Missouri 3, Pittsburg State 1
WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Fourth-ranked Central Missouri finished a three match week with a win against Pittsburg State in four sets.
The first set began with the Jennies winning three straight points, one from a kill by Julia Bates and a serving ace from Annie Reilly. The Gorillas caught the Jennies at 6-6, and again at 8-8, but were never able to take the lead from the Jennies. After that the Jennies won six points in a row, two were kills from Maddie Jones and Taylor Goodness, to bring the score to 14-8. Pittsburg scored one more point, before the Jennies brought home four more points, one kill from Carly Sojka and two more from Goodness. Pittsburg was able to score only five more points in the set, Sojka and Goodness scoring the last two points of the set with kills. Goodness had seven kills in the first set, and a .778 hitting percentage. Haley Thompson had five kills and a .714 hitting percentage.
The Jennies won the three of the first five points, but that was the only significant lead that the Jennies had in the second set. Pittsburg tied Central Missouri at 3-3, before taking the lead for the set after 4-4. Pittsburg reached ten points, while the Jennies were four points behind at six. Central Missouri almost caught Pittsburg at 12-14, after winning four points in a row, with a kill from Goodness, Thompson, and Blaise. Neither team won a significant consecutive amount of points after that, the Gorillas maintained at one to three point lead over the Jenneis for the rest of the set. Pittsburg earned their last two points of the set off a kill, and an attack error by Goodness.
The battle continued in the third, with two lead changes and three tie scores early in the set. After catching the Gorillas at 10-10 the Jennies won three more points to take a 13-10 lead over Pittsburg. Pittsburg came close to tying the Jennies at 19-17, but the Jennies were quick to respond with two more points, a kill and serving ace both from Sojka, making the score 20-17. Central Missouri won the last four of five points in the set with two kills from Goodness and one from Blaise, to end the third set at 25-20. Sojka had seven kills, and a serving ace in the third set.
In the fourth and final set of the match, the Gorillas won the first point, but never took a large lead over the Jennies. There were seven tie scores in the first sixteen point of the match, Central Missouri finally taking the lead after the Gorillas tied the score at 8-8. The Gorillas kept the score close through the set, but the Jennies went on to win the last eight of eleven points in the set, and finished the match at 25-17.
Sojka and Goodness both had 21 kill in the match. Bates had 55 assists and 12 digs, for her first double-double of the season, along with two serving aces. Reilly had 24 digs and two serving aces in the match.
No. 15 Washburn 3, No. 5 Nebraska-Kearney 2
TOPEKA, Kan. -- Washburn got a big match from junior Marissa Cox and scored the final three points to beat 5th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney (25-26, 17-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-12)on Saturday afternoon in Topeka, Kan.
Washburn is now 15-3 (4-0) while the Lopers fall to 14-2 (4-1).
Last fall, UNK beat the 'Bods three times, including in five sets in Topeka. In that match, the Lopers won the fourth (-25) and fifth (-17) sets to end Washburn's 51-match home court win streak.
That same scenario almost happened again as UNK rallied from a 21-18 deficit in the fourth set. The 7-1 run featured two kills by sophomore setter Erin Seele and a block by freshman outside Kinslie TeKolste and senior middle Katie Sokolowski.
However, Washburn got off the mat and trailed only once in the fifth set. After an ace by junior Molly O'Brien gave UNK a 9-8 lead, WU scored the next three points via two kills and a block.
The back and forth action continued as an ace by Seele knotted things at 12. But, a kill by Cox, an ace by senior libero Kelsey Leiws and a kill by senior outside Corrine Stringer gave Washburn the match.
No. 6 BYU-Hawaii 3, Dominican (Calif.) 0
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- For the fourth consecutive match No. 6 BYU won in three sets. This time it was against Dominican (Calif.) on the road (26-24, 25-12, 25-17) on Saturday.
The Seasiders (11-1, 6-1) have won in three sets in every victory but one on the season.
BYU-Hawaii got an offensive group effort together as four Seasiders recorded at least seven kills. Shih Ting Chen logged 17 to lead the match, Erh Fang Hsu had 11 while Erica Willes and Huafa Saulala added seven apiece.
In a dramatic first set, Dominican and BYU-Hawaii went down to the wire. The Seasiders led 17-11 but faced an opportunistic home team that battled back to tie the game at 23-23. Tied again at 24-all, a kill from Saulala and an error from Dominican gave BYU the first-set win 26-24.
BYU-Hawaii controlled the second and third sets. After an early 2-2 tie in the second set, the Seasiders led the rest of the way through the set and for all of the third, winning set two 25-12 and set three 25-17. The team hit .645 in the second set.
No. 7 Southwest Minnesota State 3, Minot State 0
MINOT, N.D. -- Southwest Minnesota State trapped the Beavers of MInot State in consecutive sets in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action on Saturday. The Mustangs improved to 12-3 overall, 7-0 in the NSIC with their set victories of 25-23, 25-16, 25-17.
In set one, SMSU would take a 10-4 advantage and force an early Beaver timeout. SMSU would grow its lead to 16-8 but MISU would work the score to 17-15 with a rally. The rally would put the Beavers in contention for the set as the two teams battled back-and-forth. The Mustangs would never surrender the lead and landed the final blow in the form of a Whitney Burmeister kill to lift SMSU to a 25-23 set victory.
Set two was controlled and dominated by the Mustangs. SMSU would use a 6-0 run early to take a 6-4 lead into a 12-4 lead. It would be all the Mustangs would need in the set as they cruised to a 25-16 set victory.
In set three SMSU would use a 9-point rally to build a 10-2 lead. Not looking back the Mustangs would ride the momentum to take the set and sweep the match.
No. 11 West Texas A&M 3, No. 7 Angelo State
SAN ANGELO, Texas -- West Texas A&M used 16 blocks and forced uncharacteristic Angelo State errors to earn a 3-1 Lone Star Conference win against the Belles on Saturday in an early-season match between two of the top conference teams at the Junell Center.
"They move really well and were working really hard against us," ASU head coach Chuck Waddington said. "They're one of the top blocking teams in the country and they're always putting pressure on you. They force you to hit shots you don't typically hit, and we didn't do a good job of adjusting to it. We got tentative and it led to errors on our part."
The No. 7 Belles (11-2, 4-1 LSC) committed 30 errors in the match and saw their five-match winning streak and 24-match regular-season home winning streak end with the loss. No. 11 WT (14-3, 4-0 LSC) has now won eight consecutive matches.
"We needed to stay more composed and take care of our side of the net," ASU senior Kaelen Valdez said. "They're always a really good team and we didn't match their intensity on our side of the court. We needed to have more fight."
Valdez led the Belles with a career-high 29 digs, while Maddie Huth had a season-high 16 kills and three blocks. Leah McWilliams added 13 kills and six digs with Arielle Bond contributing 12 digs.
Northern State 3, No. 10 Wayne State (Neb.) 2
ABERDEEN, S.D. -- Wayne State could not overcome 36 attack errors as Northern State rallied for a 25-20, 23-25, 23-25, 25-13 and 15-10 Northern Sun Conference volleyball win on Saturday evening against the Wildcats at Wachs Arena in Aberdeen, South Dakota. The Wildcats fall to 12-3 overall and 4-3 in the NSIC while Northern State improves to 11-3 and 4-3 in league play.
WSC led early in the first set at 11-6 and 14-9, but the host Wolves rallied and tied the score at 19-19 and then scored five consecutive points to take control of the first set with a 25-20 win. The Wildcats never trailed while building a big lead in the second set to hold on for a 25-23 win.
The third set saw Northern State build early leads of 13-8 and 14-12, but WSC scored five consecutive points and took the lead for good and won the third set 25-23.
But Northern State gained momentum back in the fourth set with a 25-13 win thanks to 10 Wildcat attack errors and controlled the fifth set with a 15-10 win to take the match 3-2.
Northern State outhit Wayne State in the contest .202-.054. The Wolves had 60 kills to Wayne State's 46. NSU had 26 attack errors and 11 service errors while WSC had 36 attack errors and five service errors.
