Box Score ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota State volleyball team (13-6, 5-6 NSIC) fell in four sets to the No. 11 Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears (15-4, 10-1 NSIC), 3-1. Minnesota State senior middle blocker Kiya Durant ended the match with 13 kills with a .684 hitting percentage and two blocks in the loss.
 
Minnesota State jumped out to an early 9-3 lead thanks to two kills from Kiya Durant and an ace from Madisen Miller. A 5-1 run for the Golden Bears cut the Maverick lead to two, but a block from graduate outside hitter Emma Loveall and junior middle Emily Kern halted the momentum for the home team, which put the score at 11-8. After some back-and-forth volley scoring, a Kern kill put the Mavericks up 18-16. A quick 3-0 run for CSP forced a MSU timeout; Makenna Nold had a block and a kill to put the Golden Bears up 19-18. Freshman Avery Klein stopped the run out of the break, but Concordia went on another 3-0 run to go up 22-19 to force the second Maverick timeout of the set. Just like the first, Klein had a kill out of the timeout. A pair of kills brought the score within one, but a Golden Bear kill and an ace from Natalee Rolbiecki won the set for the home team, 25-22. Minnesota State hit a fantastic .345 in the first set and had two blocks. CSP had 19 kills and three aces in the opener.
 
After some volley scoring in the start of the second set, a Minnesota State 6-0 run put the away team up 9-3 early. Durant went on a rampage with three kills and a block, which forced a CSP timeout. Durant had another kill out of the break, but the Golden Bears mustered a point to end the run before a kill from Toryn Richards stole service back for the Mavericks. Miller had an ace and an attack error from the home team forced the second timeout for Concordia of the set, down 14-4.
 
A block assist from Brooke Bolwerk and Durant out of the timeout put the Mavericks up 11. Despite a great effort from the Golden Bears, the Maverick lead was too much to overcome. Minnesota State took set two 25-17 on a pair of blocks from Kern. Bolwerk and Loveall also assisted on those blocks. Durant had nine kills and two blocks through two sets.
 
After a kill from Klein put the Mavericks up one early, a 5-0 Golden Bear run put CSP up 7-3. A kill from Richards ended the run. A block and an ace from Concordia put the home team up 11-7 and forced a Minnesota State timeout. A block from NSIC blocks leader Claudie Stahlke and an ace put CSP up by six. A kill and a bad set put the Golden Bears up 15-7. A block from Stahlke and Nold forced a Maverick timeout with the score 18-10. Three-straight attack errors for the home team cut the deficit to five for the Mavericks but were followed by three consecutive kills from Concordia-St. Paul. The Golden Bears won set three, 25-17 and had five service aces and four blocks in the set.
 
The fourth set started tightly contested, with a kill from Richards putting Minnesota State up 6-5. A 4-1 Golden Bear run flipped the advantage and gave the home team a 9-7 lead. Another 4-1 run after a kill from Klein forced a MSU timeout and put CSP up 13-9. Out of the break, Klein's 11^th kill of the match and a bad set from CSP cut the Maverick deficit to two. After a kill from Nold, an attack error and a Klein service ace made the score at 14-13. Miller had her third ace of the match to make it a one-score game again, but right on queue, Concordia had a kill to maintain the lead.
 
Durant's 13^th kill of the match made it 17-16, but a Nold-Stahlke block put Concordia-St. Paul up 19-16 and forced a timeout from the Maverick bench. Nold had a kill out of the break to get CSP to 20, followed up by a Loveall kill to end the little run, but it started another for the home team. A 3-0 run for Concordia put the team up 23-17. The Golden Bears closed out the set 25-19 despite kills from Loveall and Klein to keep the Mavericks alive.
 
Minnesota State hit .286 against CSP, ending with 48 kills, 44 assists, five aces, five blocks and 59 digs. Concordia hit .304, with 67 kills, eight aces, seven blocks and 62 assists.
 
Durant set a season-high with 13 kills, one shy of her career best. She hit .684 in the match and had two block assists and three digs. Kern ended with the most total blocks with three; Bolwerk also assisted on three blocks up front. She finished with 38 assists and 14 digs and three kills. Klein had 12 kills, two aces and 10 digs. Richards had nine kills and five digs. Senior libero Ellie Kline had 13 digs. Miller led the team with three aces and had eight digs.
 
"We did a lot of really good things tonight," said MSU head coach Corey Phelps. "We're a work in progress and learning with every setback. We'll have a great practice tomorrow and be ready to go on Saturday."
 
Minnesota State is back at home on Saturday, October 26 at 11 a.m. against the Augustana Vikings (10-10, 6-5 NSIC). The Vikings are one spot ahead of the Mavericks volleyball team in the NSIC Standings and currently hold the final spot for NSIC Tournament play.