BOX SCORE

KEARNEY, Neb. – No. 3 Concordia-St. Paul, the four-time defending national champion, proved to be too much for No. 9 Southwest Minnesota State in the NCAA Central Region Championship match. The Golden Bears, seeded second in the region, earned a 25-17, 26-24, 25-13 win over fifth seed SMSU on Saturday evening in Kearney, Neb.

SMSU finished the match with a season-low .062 attack percentage compared to .264 for the Golden Bears.

Cassie Haag led all players with 14 kills in the match. Kayla Koenecke finished with 10 kills for the Golden Bears while adding three solo and two block assists.

SMSU finishes the season with an overall record of 25-7, marking SMSU's ninth straight 20 win season. The Mustangs qualified for the NCAA Central Region Championship match for the first time in school history. The Golden Bears improve to 31-2 and advance to the Elite 8 and will play the winner of the Central Missouri and Washburn match.

Southwest Minnesota State never held a lead in the first set falling behind 10-4 after a five-point run by the Golden Bears. The Mustangs put together a stretch of strong play to come within four points at 17-13 in favor of CU.

SMSU helped the Golden Bears out in the first set connecting on just five kills and committing seven errors. The Mustangs hit -.053 in the first set compared to .178 for the Golden Bears. Taylor kept SMSU alive in the set coming up with a big solo block. She had two solo and a block assist in the first set alone.

The errors piled up for the Mustangs towards the end of the first set allowing the Golden Bears to walk away with a 25-17 first set win.

SMSU led for the majority of the second set after taking a 10-6 lead with a six-point run. The Golden Bears did not re-take the lead until scoring two straight points for a 19-18 lead. The Golden Bears used its block to gain the momentum back in the set. After a kill by Koenecke to take a 20-19 lead, Koenecke then came up with two solo blocks to help the Golden Bears take a 22-19 lead.

The Mustangs were able to battle back to tie the set after three kills by Taylor and a block assist by Carson and Groth. CU got back-to-back kills from Habeck and Carlson to win the second set 26-24.

SMSU was able to hang with the Golden Bears early in the set. The Mustangs were able to come within two at 8-6 before a devastating eight-point run put the Golden Bears ahead 16-6. SMSU put together a short run including two kills from Groth to come within six at 16-10.

CU took four of the next five points to take a 20-11 lead. The Golden Bears took five of the last six points in the set to win 25-13 taking the match in three sets.

Brooke Burmeister, Mary Groth and Cara Carson were all named to the NCAA Central Region All-Tournament team.