St. Paul, Minn.- The Minnesota State University Moorhead Volleyball team lost to No.2-ranked Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday afternoon in three straight sets 25-7, 25-22, and 25-16. The seven time defending National Champion Golden Bears proved to be too much for the Dragons to handle.

MSUM is now 5-6 on the season and 0-3 in the NSIC.

Junior Kaitlin VanWinkle and freshman Claire Grimm led the Dragons with 9 kills while senior Sam Sullivan led the team with 13 assists. Junior Amber Krenske and junior Casie Baer led the team in digs with seven. Sophomore Kelsey Hartkopf led the Dragons in total blocks with three. For Concordia-St. Paul, Riley Hanson led the team with 16 kills while Kasey Williams added 37 assists.
The Golden Bears scored the first four points in the first set and never looked back from then. Concordia-St. Paul had stretches of five and eight straight points in the set and won easily 25-7.

The second set was much more competitive than the first set. MSUM took the lead at 6-5 after an attack error from CSP. The Golden Bears never had a lead of more than three points in the set and the set was tied at 22 after a block from Hartkopf and junior Morgan Gradishar. CSP scored three consecutive points after that and took the set 25-22.

Concordia-St. Paul built on the momentum from the competitive second set and jumped out to an early 9-3 lead in the third set, partly thanks to two kills from Hanson. The Golden Bears controlled the set from then on out, taking the third set 25-16 and the match 3-0.

After playing its first 11 matches away from home, MSUM will return to Nemzek Hall on Tuesday against Minot State. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. MSUM will also play two matches at home during homecoming weekend, Friday the Dragons face Winona State at 7 p.m. and Saturday they take on Upper Iowa at 5 p.m.