#8 Concordia-St. Paul outlasted #15 Wayne State in a five-set marathon Saturday evening in the semi-finals of the NSIC Volleyball Tournament in St. Cloud, Minnesota.  Scores of the match were 24-26, 25-15, 25-23, 22-25, 16-14, giving Concordia-St. Paul a 23-5 record while Wayne State is now 23-7.
            The first set saw the Wildcats battle back from a pair of set points and a 21-15 deficit to surprise the Golden Bears 26-24.  WSC was down 23-20 and 24-22, but got back-to-back kills from Taya Beller to force extra points and then used a Brooklyn Kusler kill and a set-point winning block by Molly Romano and Beller to complete the opening-set rally.
            WSC had six blocks in the opening set and forced 11 Concordia-St. Paul attack errors while WSC had 13 kills.  Kusler and Beller each had four kills for the 'Cats in the first set while Molly Romano and Beller each had three blocks.           
            The Golden Bears stormed back in the second set, taking momentum back early in the set and cruising to a 25-15 set win to even the match thanks to a 19-kill set. 
            Beller led the Wildcats with five kills in the second set.
            The third set saw the two teams trade 10 ties with three lead changes that saw a late Golden Bear rally give CSP a 25-23 set win.
            WSC held a 20-18 cushion following a pair of Kusler kills.  CSP then scored the next three points for a 21-20 lead.  Kills by Kusler and Channatee Robles knotted the score at 22-22, but the Golden Bears used a kill and ace for a 24-22 advantage.  Following a Wildcat block, CSP recorded a kill on set for point a 25-23 win.
            Kusler produced six kills in the set for WSC with Robles adding four.
            The Wildcats built a big lead early in the fourth set forcing CSP timeouts at 4-1 and 11-4.  The Golden Bears battled back and forced a 17-17 tie, but the Wildcats answered the call and got a service ace from Beller to clinch the set for a 25-22 win.
            Beller had four kills, two blocks and an ace to pace the 'Cats in the fourth set.  Maggie Brahmer added three kills.
            The fifth and final set featured nine ties and four lead changes.  Neither team held a three-point lead until the Wildcats used a Beller kill and CSP attack error to grab a 13-10 forcing a CSP timeout.
            The Golden Bears then scored the next four points to take a 14-13 lead.  A kill from Beller evened the score at 14-14, but CSP got kills to end the match giving the Golden Bears a 16-14 victory.
            Concordia-St. Paul hit .190 in the match to .179 for Wayne State.  The Wildcats forced 37 attack errors on the Golden Bears while WSC had 19.  CSP held a 199-97 advantage in digs while the Wildcats had a 14-8 edge in blocks.
            Beller had 20 kills to lead Wayne State, now ranking fourth on the all-time kills list at WSC with 1,545.  Kusler added 12 kills with Channatee Robles finishing with 10.
            Beller recorded a team-high eight blocks for the Wildcats followed by Romano with seven.  Senior libero Brooke Peltz accounted for 24 digs followed by Robles with 18.  Setter Molly Romano had a double-double with 43 set assists and 17 digs. 
            Wayne State now awaits the NCAA Division II selection show Monday evening at 6:30 p.m. to see if the Wildcats, ranked eighth in the final Central Region Rankings released Wednesday, will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II National Tournament.