Duluth, Minn. – The No. 22 Bulldogs hosted conference rivals No. 4 Concordia St. Paul on Saturday afternoon. Teams would battle to a 5^th set where the Golden Bears would edge out the Bulldogs to win the match 3-2 (25-23, 19-25, 25-17, 21-25, 15-9).
 
UMD would start out the first set hot, jumping out to a 10-3 lead. The Golden Bears would respond with 4 straight points. Teams would continue to battle it out as the Golden Bears would be able to fight back to force a 18-18 tie. Teams would trade points once again to a 21-21 tie. From there, the Bulldogs would take a 23-21 advantage and wouldn't look back. UMD would close out CSP to win the first set 25-23.
 
Teams would start the second set battling by trading points. The Bulldogs would take a 9-6 lead early in the second set. As the set would continue, it would prove to be a close one as teams would trade points. After getting to a 18-18 tie, the Golden Bears would go on to score 7 of the next 8 points to close out the Bulldogs and win the second set 19-25.
 
The start of the third set would look a lot like the second set, teams would start by battling and trading points.  UMD would be able to jump out to a 14-9 lead. The Bulldogs would not stop there however as they would continue to build their lead to 20-13. From there, CSP would attempt to comeback, but it was too little too late. Thanks to a kill from Kate Berg, UMD was able to close out CSP and win the third set 25-17.
 
In the fourth set the Golden Bears would jump out to a early 10-4 lead. The Bulldogs would attempt to come back into the set, but the Golden Bears would prove to be too much in this set as they would jump out to a 21-13 lead. After 5 straight points from the Bulldogs to get it to a 21-18 lead, CSP would go on to score three straights to put UMD's comeback out of reach. The Golden Bears would win the set 21-25 to tie up the match 2-2.
 
In the winner-takes-all fifth set, teams would start by trading points. Thanks to a kill from Grace Daak, the Bulldogs would tie it at 5-5. From there, CSP would go on to win 5 of 6 points to take a 6-10 lead. The Bulldogs would attempt to comeback, but CSP would close them out and win the set 9-15, to win the match 2-3.
 
The Bulldogs were led by Sophomore Cianna Selbitschka with 17 kills. Redshirt Junior Madison Gordon had 39 assists. Senior Sydney Lanoue added 16 digs for the Bulldogs. Gordon and Selbitschka added 14 and 13 digs respectively for double doubles on the night.
 
The Golden Bears were led by Jasmine Mulvihill who had 12 kills. Ellie Veldman added 36 assists while Tori Hanson added 22 digs for CSP.
 
WHOS NEXT:
The Bulldogs will continue NSIC action as they go on the road to face off against Winona State on October 8^th at 7:00 PM. They will continue the road as they face Upper Iowa on October 9^th at 2:00 PM.