St. Paul, Minn.--- The Minnesota State volleyball team fell in five sets to #1 Concordia-St. Paul on Wednesday night in quarterfinal action of the NSIC Tournament, after leading 2-1 through three sets. The Mavericks lost by the scores of 25-17, 19-25, 24-26, 25-18 and 15-13.

With the loss, MSU's overall record falls to 16-13.

In the first frame of action CU started the match on a blazing 10-1 run over MSU. The Mavericks were never able to rebound from the Golden Bears early run, as MSU fell in set one 25-17.

In set two it was a different story for MSU as it took the second set 25-19 over CU. The Mavericks posted a .257 attack percentage in the set, while the Golden Bears finished with just a .097 attack percentage. Senior Rachel Ott [Stoughton, Wis.] led the way for the Mavericks as she tallied a team-high five kills, along with a .400 attack percentage. Senior Ellie Van De Steeg [Hutchinson, Minn.] added eight assists and two services aces in the set.

MSU withstood CU in set three, as the Mavericks downed the Golden Bears, 26-24. In the third set alone, there was eight ties and six lead changes. MSU saw themselves down 19-16 late in the set, before it rallied back and tied the third set at 22-22. The match stayed tied at 24-24, until the Mavericks two seniors, Ott and Van De Steeg closed the door with back-to-back kills to give MSU the third set win.

In set four, the Golden Bears retook the momentum in the match as they won the set 25-18 over the Mavericks. CU rebounded with a .312 attack percentage, while MSU ended set four with a .194 attack percentage. Juniors Krista Hassing [Blue Earth, Minn.] and Courtney Anderson [Tripoli, Iowa] each recorded three kills in the set.

In the fifth the and final set, MSU was leading 7-4 over CU, before the Golden Bears rallied off the next three points to tie the set up at 7-7. CU kept its momentum and went on a 6-3 run to give the Golden Bears a 13-10 advantage. After a MSU timeout, the Mavericks wouldn't go away quietly as they scored the next two points to trim the CU lead to one, 13-12. However, it wasn't quite enough as the Golden Bears held on for a 15-12 fifth set win.

Overall, the match saw 17 ties and nine lead changes in the five set thriller. The Mavericks finished with a .244 attack percentage, while the Golden Bears accumulated a .296 attack percentage. MSU also posted eight total blocks in the match, while CU tallied nine total blocks.

Hassing posted match-high's of 21 kills and five total blocks, along with a .372 attack percentage. Ott added a career-high 16 kills, along with nine digs and three total blocks. Anderson ended with 10 kills of her own on a .333 attack percentage.

Junior Lexi Platz [Lafayette, Minn.] and freshman Nevena Vukomanovich [Maplewood, Minn.] each pitched in with six kills, while Van De Steeg did a little bit of everything as she collected 52 assists, seven digs, five kills, two service aces and two total blocks.

Junior Rissi McNallan [Andover, Minn.] led MSU with 14 digs, junior Haley Fogarty [Belle Plaine, Minn.] finished one behind with 13 digs and freshman Maddie Keute posted 10 digs of her own.[Grand Rapids, Minn.]