The 48th career meeting would have the University of Minnesota Duluth once again prevail over its fiercest rival, No. 2 Concordia University, St. Paul on Saturday afternoon in a hard-fought 3-1 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory at Romano Gymnasium. The Bulldogs (15-2, 8-1 NSIC) continued to dominate at home with their seventh straight regular season victory at Romano, while the Golden Bears (23-4, 16-2 NSIC) had their 18-game conference winning streak snapped and their NSIC road winning streak of 20 in a row also fall. The win now improves UMD's series record to 25-23 and captured its first win at home against CU since Oct. 11, 2014.

The UMD attack hit .333 or better in the first three sets which in turn led to four Bulldogs posting double-digit kills. Junior outside hitter Makenzie Morgen did much of the heavy lifting, throwing down a game-high 19 kills on 50 swings as junior right side hitter Sarah Kelly added 15, freshman outside hitter Kate Berg chipped in with 14 and senior middle blocker tallied Allison Olley chimed in 10 kills. Sophomore setter Emily Torve matched her career best in assists. She dished out 58 helpers on the day which she did three separate occasions as a freshman. The Bulldogs out-dug the Bears 80-66 as four UMD players scooped up 10 or more digs on 160 Concordia attacks. Sophomore defensive libero Keena Seiffert collected a career-high 20 digs. Kelly contributed with a personal best 17 digs for her first career double-double. Morgen gathered her eighth double-double adding 16 digs.

The Bulldogs hit .317 in the match edging CU's .244 mark and put together its best hitting in the first set, .410 with 21 kills. The Bears were unable to contain the UMD offense that hit over the .300-mark for a 13th straight match. Brooklyn Lewis had 16 kills to lead Concordia, with Shelby Seurer totaling 12 as the only other Bear to record double-digit kills. Seurer also led CU with five total blocks. Elizabeth Mohr had 45 assists, and Tori Hanson had a team-high 17 digs.

The opening set seemed to be in the hands of Concordia but an eight point run by the Bulldogs eliminated a 10-4 lead and took control of the set. Each team traded points until UMD ran off seven points in a row to make it 24-17. It took until the sixth set point to finally take the first when the Bears committed an service error. Berg, Morgen and Kelly each had five kills. 

Game two saw even better hitting from each club as they both terminated balls rapidly. The lead changed hands three times and was tied 11 other times. The Bulldogs climbed out 13-9 and had that biggest lead of the set disappear at 17-17. The next point, Concordia compiled all the momentum it needed when CU's Sydney Book notched a kick to take the lead on an 11-attack rally -- the game's longest. Head coach Jim Boos used a timeout quickly after that point then called another one four points later. The Bears roared past UMD hitting .439 in the final push to take set two 25-19.

Boos and Bulldogs came out of the intermission fully confident and it showed on the court. Concordia burned its two timeouts in rapid succession in the early portions of the frame. UMD opened up the biggest lead by either team of the match at 17-11. Later in the set, Morgen was blocked by Mohr and Seurer to close the gap to 18-16. However, Morgen would return the favor later on a solo stuff of Book. The Bulldogs would extend its lead again and hold on to take the third set 25-22.

Each club jockeyed for the lead again in the fourth as both team clamped down on defense with both sides hitting under .200 for the stanza. Olley help seized the match in a crucial turning point. Trailing 12-10, Olley put together four kills and a block in a span of 10 plays to pushed the lead in UMD's advantage. CU attempted to stop the rally with a timeout during that stretch but Olley kept on ticking, keeping the the Bulldog lead in tack which it would never relinquish. Morgen's 19th kill would be the game ender as UMD took the frame 25-19 and the match.

The Bulldogs will return to conference play on the road this weekend with nearly half of the league schedule completed. UMD takes on the Winona State University on Friday night before a strutting over to Fayette, Iowa to battle Upper Iowa University on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs and Warriors will open the weekend at 7:00 p.m. in Winona, Minn.