Box Score

ABERDEEN, S.D. – Despite a strong front from the Northern State University Wolves in the first set of the night, the nation's top-ranked Concordia University-St. Paul Golden Bears needed just over an hour to pull out a 3-0 sweep of the Wolves by set scores of 25-23, 25-9, 25-18.

The win gave the defending national champion Golden Bears their 61st straight victory and their 24th of the season.  CU is also 13-0 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.  NSU slipped to 8-13 overall and 3-10 in the conference.

The Wolves took advantage of a slow CU start to jump out to an early lead to open the match, leading by as much as 16-10 through the middle portion of the set.  The Golden Bears, in fact, did not hold a lead until breaking a 22-all tie with a Sadie Kessler kill.  CU scored three of the last four points in the set to pull out the victory.

NSU used seven kills from senior outside hitter Kelsey Aden and three service aces in that set to keep things close.  Aden would finish with 10 kills on the night to lead the Wolves.

After closing out the opening set, the Golden Bears rolled to victory in the second stanza, holding NSU to just nine points and only six kills to head into the break with the 2-0 edge.  Freshman Cassie Haag and junior Emily Palkert had five kills apiece in that set, while the CU defensive front came up with five blocks to hold the Wolves at bay.

Following the intermission, a reinvigorated Wolves squad again jumped out to a 7-3 lead early, aided by four CU attacking errors and two NSU stuff blocks.  Junior middle blocker Whitney Morsching had a hand in both rejections, as she finished the night with three assisted blocks.  However, CU would not be denied, fighting back to tie the set at 10-apiece before moving on to the 25-18 victory.

Haag and sophomore Megan Carlson had 10 kills apiece to equal Aden's match-best performance.  NSU also got 13 digs from freshman libero Stephanie Drake and 24 assists from junior Megan Gilbraith.  The Wolves, behind their five total team blocks, also held the Golden Bears to their lowest hitting percentage of the season.  CU committed 20 attack errors and finished with a .165 hitting percentage.

CU got 30 assists from senior Maggie McNamara, the school's all time assists leader.  She also finished with a match-best 16 digs to lead five players in double digits in that category.

NSU returns to the court tomorrow for a 3 p.m. match-up against St. Cloud State University.  The Huskies fell in straight sets to the University of Mary on Saturday.