Mankato, Minn. --- The Minnesota State volleyball team (15-7, 8-6 NSIC) hosted the #6 Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears (18-4, 12-2 NSIC) on Halloween evening, and lost the match 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 27-25). 

The Golden Bears got out to a quick start on the night, building a 7-1 lead in the opening minutes of the match.  Several late pushes from the Mavericks kept them in the set, but ultimately Concordia-St. Paul pulled out the 25-19 set victory to take a 1-0 lead.

The second set was incredibly even in the early going before the Golden Bears rattled off five straight points to take a 10-6 lead.  The Mavericks once again fought back into the set, and with a 5-1 run of their own took a 22-21 lead late in the set.  Concordia-St. Paul responded with 5-2 closeout run that gave them the 26-24 win, and a 2-0 match lead.  

The Mavericks stormed ahead in the third set, taking an early 13-7 lead.  The Golden Bears were able to claw their way back into the match with a series of small runs but still found themselves trailing 22-15.  Concordia-St. Paul came out of timeout and proceeded on a 9-2 run to tie the match at 24, and after a couple of back and forth points, strung a pair of kills together to take the set 27-25 to win the match 3-0.

Morgan Olson led the Mavericks with 15 kills while Ashton Lee and Alivia Garbe finished with eight and seven kills respectively.  Mara Quam tallied 20 digs on the night and Minnesota State, as a team, recorded seven blocks.

Saturday, the Mavericks will travel to Winona, Minn., to face off with the Warriors with first serve scheduled for 2:00 p.m., before they return home to take on Upper Iowa Monday night at 6:00 p.m.