Box Score

MARSHALL, Minn. - No. 1 Concordia University, St. Paul effectively shut down No. 15 Southwest Minnesota State's offense and held the Mustangs to a season-low .054 hitting percentage en route to posting a 3-0 ((25-12, 25-22, 25-14) conference victory Saturday afternoon in Marshall, Minn.

The loss spoils an eight-match winning streak for the Mustangs.

CU improves to 23-0 (12-0 NSIC), while SMSU drops to 18-6 (8-4 NSIC).

Sara Graf moved into the top spot in career assists at SMSU in the loss.  She passed Sarah Rittenhouse's career mark of 4,245 and now has 4,250 career assists.  Graf finished the match with 14 assists.

Cara Carson split time with Graf and posted 11 assists.

Devin Diedrich recorded a match-high 10 kills.  She was only player to manage double-figure kills in the match.  Kenzie Niesche led the Mustangs with 10 digs.

The Mustangs were silenced by a blazing .481 hitting percentage in the opening set  from the nation's top-ranked squad.  The hitting performance allowed the Golden Bears to take a 1-0 match advantage.

The Mustangs looked up the task of taking a set from CU in the ensuing set.  SMSU played the Golden Bears to a 20-20 and looked to have a good grasp on the momentum.  CU, however, put together a 5-2  run to close and move ahead 2-0.

The Golden Bears took advantage of a nine-kill, negative hitting percentage performance to cruise to the match victory in the third and final set.

CU was tenacious at the net, recording 10 blocks as the Golden Bears picked up their NCAA record 60th straight win.

Maggie McNamara's 33 assists and Emily Palkert's nine kills led CU.

SMSU is on the road next weekend at Augustana and No. 18 Wayne State.