ST. PAUL, Minn. – No. 16 Winona State University had its chances on Tuesday night to complete a rare season sweep of Concordia-St. Paul. However, the Warriors were unable to close out the No. 6-ranked Golden Bears on their home court in a pair of games that were up for grabs, and ultimately lost in four sets.
CSP won by set scores of 25-20, 15-25, 25-23, 25-23.
The setback drops Winona State to 18-6 (10-6 NSIC) while CSP improves to 20-4 (14-2 NSIC).
The Warriors never trailed in set two and were aided by 12 Golden Bear errors in a dominant effort at the net. WSU tallied six of its nine blocks on the night in the victorious effort to even the match score at 1-1.
Winona State had its best offensive output in the pivotal third set, hitting .316, but the Golden Bears were equally as sharp with a .333 clip. The game featured six lead changes and was tied nine times on the scoreboard.
The Warriors were the first to 20 on a kill by Paige Christopher for a two-point lead as the teams had traded the previous nine points. CSP answered with a three-point run to claim a 21-20 lead only to see the Warriors pull back in front, 22-21. The Golden Bears refused to go down quietly though and surged back on top, 23-22. Christopher soared again for WSU at crunch time, flooring a kill to knot the score once more at 23-all before the home team halted the Warriors' momentum and scored the final two points to claim a 2-1 match lead.
Set four will stick with Winona State as the one that got away. The Warriors used a four-point run, aided by a pair of kills by Cori Meyers to claim a 19-16 advantage in a very competitive game. WSU again won the race to 20 and padded its lead to 21-17 on a kill by Christopher. The sophomore did all she could to extend the match to a fifth set, inching the Warriors closer to victory with kills to make it 22-18 and 23-21, but the Golden Bears rallied for the game and match triumph.
CSP scored the final four points of set four and outscored the Warriors, 7-1, to the finish line in the comeback win.
Meyers led WSU with a season-high 12 kills and notched her first double-double of the season with 12 digs. Megan Flom recorded 11 kills and a team-high five blocks in the loss. Christopher and Kate Masberg combined for 15 kills.
Junior Bre Maloney set the offense with 35 assists, falling just shy of a triple-double with eight kills and nine digs. Libero Becca Pagel paced the back row with 15 digs.
Winona State continues its stretch away from home with its final road trip of the regular season this weekend. The Warriors travel to Bemidji State on Friday and conclude the trip at Minnesota Crookston on Saturday afternoon.
