Box Score
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Emily Palkert recorded 13 kills and Maggie McNamara dished out 42 assists to lead No. 1 Concordia University, St. Paul to a 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-12) victory over No. 14 Southwest Minnesota State Tuesday night in St. Paul, Minn.
CU improves to 15-0 (4-0 NSIC), while SMSU drops to 10-5 (0-3 NSIC).
The loss marks the first time since 1998 that the Mustangs have started NSIC play 0-3.
Mary Groth was the lone Mustang to crack double figures in the kill column as the freshman tallied 10 on the evening.
Tory Brouwer was two shy of double figures with eight.
Sara Graf assisted on 25 kills, and
Kenzie Niesche finished with a team-high 10 digs.
SMSU's offense struggled throughout, managing an uncharacteristic .092 hitting percentage in the loss. CU countered with a efficient .394 effort from its offense.
Hot hitting on behalf of the Golden Bears and a not-so-hot performance in the same category by the Mustangs in the opening set explained an eight-point set victory for the host team. CU started the match with a sizzling .353 performance from its hitters, while SMSU averaged out to a much cooler .083. The Mustangs did have their opponent locked in a 6-6 tie early on, but a 4-0 run by the Golden Bears abruptly broke open the set in their favor.
And the impressive hitting campaign for CU would only getter better in the ensuing set. The Golden Bears got out of the second set without a single attack error in 32 swings and, in the process, killed 15 balls. CU never looked back from 3-0 run to open the set; subsequent spurts of 7-1 and 6-0 solidified a dominant performance by the Golden Bears in the 12-point set victory.
Down, but not out, SMSU grabbed hold of its first lead of the night in the third set off the opening point but got a better taste of it off a kill from Groth to go ahead 8-7. But the nation's top ranked team finished the match on a 13-2 run to clinch the sweep.
The Golden Bears were relentless at the net as they notched 10 blocks and kept a normally potent Mustang offense in check throughout the night.
SMSU continues conference play this weekend, hosting Northern State and Mary.
