No. 4 Concordia (Calif.) sweeps Bruins at Nationals

Box Score

SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- Amber Ridens and Brooke Marino combined for 35 kills to lead fourth-ranked Concordia (Calif.) University to a 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-19) sweep over 16th-ranked Bellevue University in pool play action at the NAIA Volleyball National Championship Wednesday night at the Tyson Events Center.

The loss dropped the Bruins to 0-2 in the tournament and to 29-9 overall on the season. Concordia improved to 2-0 in pool play and 28-7 on the year.

Senior Rachel Muller led the Bruins with eight kills and six digs. Sophomore Maureen Wardian added seven kills on .294 hitting. Bellevue was led defensively by senior Gabby Pfannenstiel's 10 digs. Freshman Jordan Broady registered 22 assists and seven digs in the loss.

The opening set featured 11 ties and six lead changes. With the scored knotted at 16, the Eagles went on a 4-0 run highlight by two kills from Ridens, to take a four-point advantage. The Bruins battled back to within one point after a kill from Jaclyn Thorson and a service ace from Pfannenstiel forced an Eagle timeout at 22-21. Concordia closed out the set on a 3-1 run after a Bruin attack error and a pair of kills by Marino.

After an Eagle service error gave Bellevue an early 1-0 lead in the second set, Concordia rolled off four-straight points and never trailed, rolling to the 25-19 win. 

Bellevue once again took a 1-0 lead in the final set only to see the Eagles roll off five-straight points, forcing a BU timeout. Bellevue was able to narrow the Concordia advantage to one point (17-16) after a crosscourt kill by Muller. The Eagles then went on an 8-3 spurt to close out the match, 25-19.

The Bruins will conclude pool play on Thursday with an 8 p.m. match against the host school, Morningside College.