The University of Minnesota Duluth once again prevailed over its fiercest rival, No. 3 Concordia University, St. Paul on Tuesday night in a hard-fought 3-1 non-conference victory at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul.

No. 2 UMD (26-1, 18-0 NSIC) continued to build its case as the top team in the NCAA II Central Region, while Concordia-St. Paul (23-4, 16-2 NSIC) has now matched its highest loss total from the last eight seasons.
 
HIGHLIGHTS
• Strong defense - and errors caused by it - told the story of the game as the teams produced 17 blocks in the match. Senior libero Julie Rainey had 22 digs to lead the Bulldogs with junior setter Ashley Hinsch adding a double-double with 12 digs to go with her 59 assists. Junior middle blocker Monica Turner had six blocks (one solo) to go with 14 kills.
• Sophomore middle blocker Sydnie Mauch led the Bulldog offense with 19 kills on the night. Junior outside hitter Mariah Scharf (12) and senior right-side hitter Maddy Siroin (11) also hit double digits for UMD.
The opening set seemed anyone's game as the two teams traded points in front of a raucous crowd of 1,243 which, while numbers favored the home team, was very loud for each team's points. Knotted at 9-9, Concordia would score three straight points, a pair by junior middle blocker Heather Schiller, as the Golden Bears built an edge of 17-12. UMD tightened the score at 22-19, but CU would eventually hold on for a 25-21 set victory though neither team did themselves many favors with nearly as many attack errors (20) as kills (23) in the first game.

Game two saw a return to form for both teams but continued the back-and-forth with a three-point UMD lead as the high-water mark before Concordia knotted the match at 12-all. The teams would trade the next 12 points before UMD finally gained a 21-18 edge. The Bears would roar back  and the match would once again be tied at 24-all. Just like the match in Duluth, the teams needed extra points to decide a set. Concordia set themselves up for a pair of game points, but UMD tied it up, the second time thanks to a surprise kill by Hinsch, followed by a kill by Turner and a block by Turner and Siroin to knot the match up at a game apiece.

The third game saw the teams trade leads instead of ties before the Golden Bears would eventually open it up at 13-10, and then 15-11 - the largest lead held by either team since the opening frame - before head coach Jim Boos would call a timeout on the UMD sideline. The Bulldogs scored seven of the next nine points fueled by four Concordia attacker errors and a pair of kills by Mauch that gave the Bulldogs the edge at 19-18. UMD would extend its lead thanks to another block by Turner and Siroin, and the Bulldogs held on to take the third set 25-23.

UMD opened a 6-2 lead in the fourth set as CU head coach Brady Starkey burned both of his timeouts in the first eight points when the Bears handed the Bulldogs four points on errors in the early going. Concordia worked its way back into the set and took its first lead at 14-13. UMD scored five of the six points and regained a lead of 18-15, but again the Bears proved resilient and the scored would again be tied at each point from 19 to 24 before the Bulldogs edged Concordia 26-24 with an errant Golden Bear attack clinching the match for UMD.

The Bulldogs hit just .190 in the match edging CU's .180 mark and put together its best hitting in the fourth set, .324 with 20 kills. Sophomore middle blocker Riley Hanson had 16 kills to lead Concordia, with five Bears collecting at least nine kills. Schiller and Hanson each had five blocks for CU. Junior setter Kasey Williams had 54 assists, and senior libero Taylor Dordan had a team-high 14 digs.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs will return to conference play on the road this weekend with the regular season finale looming. UMD takes on the University of Sioux Falls on Friday night before a rematch with No. 8 Southwest Minnesota State University on Saturday afternoon in Marshall. The Bulldogs and Cougars will open the weekend at 7:00 p.m. in Sioux Falls.