No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul 3, Wayne State (Neb.) 2
WAYNE, Neb. -- Concordia-St. Paul (16-1, 8-0 NSIC) pulled out a big five set win against the Wayne State Wildcats (12-5, 4-4 NSIC) on Friday night in Wayne.
The two squads traded blows in the first set with neither team holding a lead over three points. Concordia bounced back to score the next three to take the first 28-26.
Concordia jumped out to an early 9-3 lead in the second and controlled play throughout the rest of the match, not allowing Wayne State to get back in it. They went up 2-0 in the match with a chance to collect the sweep after a 25-18 win in the second.
Wayne State responded in the third by taking a 9-4 lead, but CU answered by scoring eight of the next ten points to take a lead of their own. The teams traded the next few points before WSC took the lead for good at 17-16. They went on to extend the match by picking up a 25-23 win in the third.
The Golden Bears and Wildcats were even throughout the fourth as there were 11 ties and four lead changes in just that set alone. Wayne State broke the last tie by taking a 20-19 and didn't reliquish it, forcing a deciding fifth set with a 25-22 win.
WSC got an early jump on CU by taking a 4-3 lead but five straight points for the Golden Bears gave them the deciding advantage. The fifth set proved to be an anticlimatic conclusion to a great match as Concordia cruised to a 15-9 win in the final set.
No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth 3, Minot State 0
MINOT, N.D. -- Minnesota-Duluth had to battle in the first set but dominated the final two as it defeated Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foe Minot State in consecutive sets in Minot on Friday evening.
The Bulldogs (17-1, 7-1 NSIC) were forced to battle back against the Beavers (i7-10, 3-5 NSIC) in the first set, taking their first lead at 16-15 but pulled away late to win 25-19. The second game saw UMD start to take control with a 25-16 victory, but the Bulldogs won going away in the third, downing Minot State 25-12. UMD hit .418 as a team while holding the Beavers to just an .068 kill percentage.
Junior middle blocker Jess Zieman led the way for UMD in the first two sets with five blocks (one solo), finishing with eight blocks and three kills. Senior outside hitter Kate Lange hit .543 and continued to collect kills. With 19 in the match, she now sits at 1,740 for her career, 103 off the UMD record and 17 back of second place. Sophomore middle blocker Monica Turner hit .615 in the match with nine kills of her own.
No. 3 Tampa 3, Lynn 0
TAMPA, Fla. -- Continuing its perfect Sunshine State Conference record, No. 3 Tampa coasted past visiting Lynn 3-0 on Friday night. The Spartans improve to 13-1 with a pristine 5-0 SSC tally while the visiting Fighting Knights dip to 12-6 with a 2-3 conference mark.
UT has taken 24 consecutive conference victories dating back to the 2011 season.
Sophomore Berkley Whaley paced the offense to the tune of 13 kills at a .556 attack percentage to pave the way to a Tampa victory. Fellow sophomore Marissa Lisenbee swatted 11 kills while reigning SSC Player of the Week Meagan Burke swung a perfect 5-for-5.
This marks the second time this season Burke recorded a perfect hitting percentage.
Setter Kahley Patrick spun a double-double for the UT squad, assisting 17 attacks while also flashing her defensive prowess with 10 digs. Libero Frances Cardenas led the floor with 11 digs in her two sets of work while middle blocker Jessica Wagner blocked five attacks.
No. 4 Central Missouri, Arkansas Tech
No. 4 Central Missouri, Southwestern Oklahoma State
WARRENSBURG, Mo -- The Central Missouri Jennies (19-0, 6-0 MIAA) swept both of their matches Friday, holding their opponents to under twenty points in a set, while competing in the Missouri Southern Invitational Crossover, in Joplin, Mo. First the Jennies took on Arkansas Tech (12-6, 4-2 GAC), beating the Golden Suns, 25-11, 25-17, 25-17. In their second match of the evening the Jennies defeated Southwestern Oklahoma, again in three sets 25-15, 25-14, 25-18.
In the first set of the Arkansas Tech match the Jennies held the Golden Suns to under ten points for a majority of the set. The Jennies gave up two points at the start of the set, before winning ten of twelve points, leading Arkansas Tech 10-4. Central Missouri won the last four points of the set consecutively, with two kills from Sojka, and one kill from Taylor Goodness and Thompson, to finish the set at 25-11. Thompson had six kills, and Sojka had five kills in the first set.
The Jennies hit .464 in the match against Arkansas Tech, totaling 44 kills, seven serving aces, and nine blocks. Sojka finished the match with 12 kills and four blocks, Thompson had 11 kills and three blocks. Bates had 36 assists, and two serving aces in the match.
In the second match against Southwestern Oklahoma, the Bulldogs lead the Jennies through the first five points of the match, tying the score at 3-3. The Jennies didn't give up the lead for the rest of the match, winning the following three points with a kill from Sojka, and two from Blaise. The Jennies stretched their five point lead to a nine point lead at 19-10. Kills by Sojka won the Jennies their last two points of the set. Goodness and Blaise both had four kills in the set, and Thompson and Sojka had three each.
In the third and final set of the night, Southwestern Oklahoma had the lead at the start of the match, but Central Missouri quickly caught them at 5-5. The Jennies went on to win five more points, and take a four point lead against the Bulldogs, Mackenzie Harding with her fourth kill of the season. The Bulldogs were able to win six of eight points towards the end of the match, narrowing the Jennies lead to 22-18, before a kill by Goodness, and a service ace followed by a Bulldogs attack error ended the match at 25-18. Eight of ten attacks by Goodness were converted to kills, for a .700 hitting percentage in the final set.
No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State 3, Winona State 0
MARSHALL, Minn. -- Claire Sames slammed 11 kills and finished with a career-high .526 hitting percentage to lead No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State to a consecutive-set victory against Winona State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action on Friday night. SMSU earned the sweep with set victories of 25-15, 25-15, 25-13.
Sames' previous career-high for hitting percentage was .500 (12-1-22) which she set versus Eckerd (Fla.) on Sept. 6.
With the match victory SMSU extends its winning streak to nine consecutive and improved its record to 13-3 overall and 8-0 in the NSIC.
SMSU combined to hit .350 (48-13-100) in the three sets and were led by Sames and Abbey Thissen who each finished with 11 kills. Balancing out the offensive attack was Whitney Burmeister and her nine kills, as well as Sarah Parker and McKell Anderson who each finished with eight kills each. Parker, who earned the start, finished a kill shy of tying her career-high mark of 10 set on Sept. 6 versus Truman.
No. 8 Nebraska-Kearney 3, Pace 0
PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. -- Sophomore MJ Massanet had another big effort as 8th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney breezed to a sweep of Pace (25-6, 25-6, 25-23) on Friday night in Pleasantville, N.Y.
The Lopers are now 15-2 while the Setters, from the Northeast 10 Conference, slip to 3-14.
UNK recorded 29 kills over the first two sets while Pace amassed just four. Fifteen different Lopers took the court with nine registering a kill.
In the third set, Pace jumped out to leads of 10-3 and 17-10 against a very young Kearney line up. The Lopers fought back, finishing on an 8-6 run that featured four kills by Massanet.
She finished with a match high 15 on just 26 attempts (.462 attack pct.). Three others had six kills, including senior outside Ashley Leitner and sophomore setter Erin Seele.
