The University of Minnesota Duluth continued to show its comeback ability and grit after falling behind 2-0 to longtime rival Concordia University, St. Paul, as the Bulldogs forced a decisive game five but fell 3-2 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament semifinals on the road in St. Paul on Saturday afternoon.

No. 7 UMD (23-8) finds itself in a strange position after falling to the Golden Bears in that the team will want Concordia-St. Paul (26-4) to win tomorrow afternoon against No. 21 Winona State University, which continued its upset run in the earlier semifinal, knocking off No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State University. An upset win by the Warriors in tomorrow's NSIC Tournament Championship match will assuredly knock the Bulldogs out of contention for a spot in the NCAA II Central Region Tournament, but a Concordia win would signal the assumed scenario of the top seven teams in the region all earning a bid, along with the champion of the Great American Conference. In which case, UMD will have to hope that its valiant comeback Saturday and victory over Wayne State (Neb.) College on Wednesday night, as well as the other results across the region, were enough to bump the Bulldogs into the top seven.

Concordia looked comfortable in the early going, hitting .467 and .484 in the opening two games, respectively, as the Golden Bears opened up a 2-0 lead with 25-21 and 25-18 game victories over UMD. The Bulldogs had 12 errors in the first two sets, while Concordia continued to look strong on the net, collecting 12 blocks on the day. Backed into a corner, the Bulldogs responded with just five errors total between the third and fourth sets, including a 21-kill, two-error performance in a 26-24 game three win that may have sent the Golden Bears reeling.

UMD quickly jumped out 5-0 in game four and continued off that momentum, knocking off Concordia 25-14 to force game five. Senior Ashley Hinsch collected 58 assists on the day, moving her into second-place all-time at UMD in career set assists, and she spread the ball around with five players producing at least nine kills, including a match-high 25 from senior outside hitter Mariah Scharf, who also hit .340 on the day. Junior middle blocker Sydnie Mauch and freshman right-side hitter Sarah Kelly each also hit double figures, with 14 kills each on the day.

Game five started out a back-and-forth affair, with UMD holding a 5-3 edge but Concordia ran off three-straight points and five-of-six to hold an 8-6 advanctage. After a Bulldog timeout, UMD answered back with three straight, including two kills by Scharf and an erroneous set on the Golden Bears' side of the court. A timeout by CU turned the momentum as Concordia scored four straight points and would hold off UMD the rest of the way, taking game five 15-11 as the Bulldogs hit just .083 with six errors in the set and 23 in the match.

Junior middle blocker Riley Hanson had 19 kills to lead the Golden bears. Junior right-side hitter Emma Lange and senior middle blocker Heather Schiller lead Concordia at the net with seven and six blocks, each, while Hanson added four. Junior outside hitter Anna Schlaak had a match-high 19 digs for Concordia, while their senior libero Taylor Dordan had 17. Junior outside hitter Taylor Wissbroecker had 13 digs for the Bulldogs while freshman libero Erin Schindler and sophomore defensive specialist Kelly Madison tied with 12 apiece.

NCAA SELECTION SHOW
The Bulldogs will find out their NCAA Tournament fate on Monday night when the selection show will be streamed online at 6:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.