By: CJ Siewert

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ST. PAUL, Minn. – Five-time defending national champion Concordia-St. Paul won its quarterfinal match in the NCAA Central Region Volleyball Tournament on Thursday night with a straight set victory over No. 16 Wayne State at the Gangelhoff Center. The top-ranked Golden Bears won by scores of 25-14, 25-17 and 25-20 to improve to 28-4, while the Wildcats end their season at 22-10.

CU Volleyball vs. Wayne State 11.29.2012 - Images by Justin Oakman

“I thought we did a good job of scrapping out a win,” Concordia head coach Brady Starkey said. “It was a little bit of an ugly match and both teams were out of system quite a bit. I think that we both did a good job of trying to serve each other tough and take each other out of system. Our girls did a good job of keeping the ball in play when they were out of system and defending Wayne State when they were out of system.”

With the score tied 2-2 in the opening set, Concordia took control of the game and scored 11 unanswered points behind the serving of Taylor Dordan (Blaine, Minn.). The Golden Bears held on to a double digit lead for the next 19 volleys until Wayne State brought the deficit to nine at 22-13, but it was too little, too late as CU claimed the set in convincing fashion, 25-14.

Ashley Murtha (Apple Valley, Minn.) led the charge in set one with five of the team’s nine kills along with four digs. The Golden Bears hit an uncharacteristic .133 on the attack (9-5-30), but took advantage of 10 Wayne State errors.

Wayne State jumped out to a 3-0 lead to start the second, but it wasn’t long until the Bears regained the lead. They scored six straight points for a 6-3 lead and never gave it up. The Wildcats would bounce back to tie the set a 7-7, but CU gradually increased its lead for the remainder of the set, resulting in a 25-17 victory.

Facing elimination in the third set, Wayne State fought throughout the entire frame and held a lead or was tied through the first 19 points. But a kill by Kayla Koenecke (Delano, Minn.) followed by a Wildcat ball handling error gave the Golden Bears a lead they would hold to secure the win. Murtha put the finishing touch on the match with a kill to secure the Bears a semifinal match.

Murtha posted her fifth double-double of the season with a team-leading 10 kills, plus 15 digs. She went 10-for-22 with four errors on the attack for a .273 hitting percentage and averaged five digs per set. “I think that it’s important to stay calm when I’m playing and be able to perform in each aspect on my role,” Murtha responded to her role on the squad.

Ellie Duffy (Fridley, Minn.) was the other Golden Bear to reach double digit kills with 10 on 25 attempts (four errors) for a .240 clip. She added six digs and two service aces. As one of three seniors on the team, Duffy was happy for the opportunity to play in front of the home crowd in her final year. “Our team definitely likes to play in front of our home crowd,” Duffy noted. “We get a lot of fans from around the Twin Cities that aren’t necessarily just our parents or classmates. But we like playing on other teams’ courts, too, either way I think we would have been fine with it.”

The Golden Bears hit a season-low .216 on the attack (38-16-102), but held the Wildcats to a .067 rate (29-21-119). Amanda Konetchy (Victoria, Minn.) distributed 33 assists along with five digs, while Dordan made a number of key digs, leading the team with 16.

Wayne State was led by senior Alex Armes, who went 9-for-23 (three errors) on the attack for a .261 percentage. Cori Hobbs registered a team-high 12 digs and Leisa McClintock served up 22 assists.

“It was a pretty tough one out there tonight,” Wayne State head coach Scott Kneifl said. “Concordia-St. Paul has a quality team, great athletes and they’re very well coached. We came out a little slow out of the chute and it wasn’t looking good but I was real proud of our kids’ effort to compete. I thought towards the end of the second and entire third set that we fought hard. We gave away a few points on the service that we normally don’t give away so it just shows you how tough Concordia-St. Paul serves. It’s something in our sport at this level that a lot of people don’t talk about. They are phenomenal with their serve, service-receive, and ball control game but I’m proud of the way our kids fought.”

Concordia advances to the semifinals against Minnesota Duluth on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Bears and Bulldogs split the regular season series and will meet for the right to play in the Central Region Championship.

“The serve and pass battle will be big for us against Duluth,” Starkey acknowledged. “Making sure that we’re able to play our system when we are getting in trouble and being aggressive despite not being in a complete rhythm are key. Trying to work out grinding out points and I think that the team that’s going to get out there and scrap more in all situations is going to be the team that pulls that match off tomorrow night.”