By: by Patrick Rydeen

Tournament Website

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Top-seeded No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul (26-4) advances to the NSIC Tournament Championship with a five set win over fifth-seeded #7 Minnesota Duluth (22-8) on Saturday afternoon at the Gangelhoff Center. The Golden Bears will take on Winona State in the title match on Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
CSP advances to the conference title match for the sixth time in eight trips to the tournament as they look for their fourth championship and first since 2006. Their last trip to the championship match came back in 2013 and resulted in a loss to the Bulldogs in five sets. Concordia is now 17-4 all-time in the NSIC Tournament overall. The Golden Bears will take on the sixth-seeded #21 Warriors, which will be looking for its first ever NSIC regular season or tournament title in the match.
 
The Golden Bears appeared poised to pick up a sweep as they cruised to wins in each of the first two sets and led late in the third before the Bulldogs stormed back to win the third and fourth sets to take the match the full five sets. Concordia bounced back in empathic fashion to win the fifth to knock off UMD.
 
Concordia delivered a strong offensive performance as they hit .340 with 66 kills and just 13 hitting errors while Minnesota Duluth finished up at .296 with 73 kills and 23 hitting errors. Blocks went heavily in favor of CSP as they finished with 12.0 compared to 5.0 for UMD.
 
Riley Hanson delivered an impressive effort with a team-best 19 kills on an efficient .586 hitting to lead a balanced Golden Bear attack. Emma Lange, Anna Pioske and Anna Schlaak all joined her in double figures in kills as well. Lange also hit a solid .333 on 13 kills to go along with a match-high seven blocks.
 
Pioske and Schlaak filled up the stat sheet with double-doubles as Pioske contributed 13 kills and 10 digs while Schlaak chipped in 12 kills and a match-best 19 digs.
 
Kasey Williams was a big part of the success of the offense as she put up 58 assists to go along with eight digs while Taylor Dordan provided a steady presence in the back row with 17 digs.
 
Mariah Scharf was the focal point of the Minnesota Duluth offense as she led all players with 25 kills on 53 attempts while Sarah Kelly and Sydnie Mauch each added 14 kills. Ashley Hinsch nearly double-double with 58 assists and nine digs for the Bulldogs as well.
 
The Bulldogs came out with a lot of energy as they claimed the first three points and eight of the first 12 points to build an early lead, but the Golden Bears quickly responded with five straight to take the lead and grab the momentum. Concordia slowly built a lead through the middle of the set as they went up two at 14-12 and three at 18-15 to take control. Minnesota Duluth pulled back within one at 20-19 and again at 21-20 but were unable to even it back up as CSP cruised with four of the final five to take the first set 25-21.
 
Minnesota Duluth got off to another fast start in the second with a 6-3 run to open play before Concordia strung together a massive 11-1 run to turn it in their favor. The Golden Bears were never really threatened the rest of the set as they led by as many as nine at 20-11 and no less than five as they pushed to a 25-18 win to close out the set and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
For the third set in a row, the Bulldogs grabbed the first real lead at 10-7 in the third and once again Concordia answered right back with a 5-0 run to take a lead of their own. After the next three went in favor of UMD, the two teams traded points for much of the rest of the set. After CSP went up two at 19-17 neither team led by more than two until the final point of the set. Concordia pulled within one point of closing out the match with two straight points at 24-23, but three in a row from Minnesota Duluth extended the match another set.
 
Coming off the momentum of the dramatic win in the third, UMD ran out to a quick 5-0 lead as they looked to force a fifth set. Concordia battled back to within two before another big run, this time a 6-0 run put the Bulldogs in front 15-7. The Golden Bears couldn't put much of a dent in the lead as Minnesota Duluth closed on a 5-1 run to pick up a decisive 25-14 win to force deciding fifth set to determine which team advances to the title match.
 
The fifth set lived up to the hype as it featured a lot of exciting, back and forth play. The set featured four ties and three lead changes as the outcome remained up in the air until the final point. UMD gained the advantage at 5-3 before three in a row and five of the next six for CSP put the Golden Bears on top 8-6. The Bulldogs took the next three to take the lead back but it wouldn't last as Concordia answered right back with four in a row to take their largest lead to that point at 12-9. Minnesota Duluth was unable to rebound as CSP cruised to a 15-11 set win to advance to tomorrow's matchup with Winona State.