Junior Emily Johnson recorded her 1,000th career kill and junior Kate Hart added 10 terminations, but No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul collected 47 kills and held USF to a .107 attack percentage as the Golden Bears knocked off the Cougars in straight sets, (25-17, 25-16, 25-20) Friday night at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minn.
The Cougars slipped to 11-8 (3-7, NSIC) while the six-time defending NCAA champions improved to 18-1 (10-0).
Johnson became the first player since 2010 (Danielle Roers) to join the Cougars' 1,000 Kill Club with her final stab of the match. The former Platte-Geddes star finished with eight terminations on the night. She added seven digs and three block assists.
The Golden Bears were led by Kayla Koenecke and Emily McDonough, who both notched a match-high 13 kills.
The Golden Bears jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the opening frame, with senior setter and AVCA Division II National Player of the Week Amanda Konetchy at the service line for the first five set points. The Cougars closed the gap with a 9-5 run to trail by two at 12-10. Concordia quickly pushed the margin to five but Kate Hart kept things close, flooring a kill that was followed by a combo stuff with Jordan Calef to trim USF's deficit to 19-16. That's when sophomore Emily McDonough took matters into her own hands, pounding four consecutive kills and the Golden Bears finished the set on a 7-1 roll for the 25-17 win.
USF took the first point of set two but the Golden Bears countered with a 10-3 burst that included a trio of three-point skeins. There was no quit in the Cougars though, who trailed just 14-10 after back-to-back terminations by Johnson and Hart. Concordia then scored two in a row to force a Sioux Falls timeout. Johnson smashed a kill out of the break when a 2-0 CSP spurt fueled a 9-5 run as the Golden Bears clinched the frame 25-16 to take a 2-0 set advantage.
After intermission, the Cougars staked themselves to a 4-0 advantage in the third frame after a Johnson kill. They pushed their lead to 10-4 with a Hart stab and CSP attack error before the Golden Bears battled all the way back to tie the set at 10-all. Hart answered with another kill to put USF back in front and the sides exchanged the next 18 points and a Cougar attack hiccup pulled the Golden Bears even at 19-19. Sioux Falls called timeout after Concordia took a 20-19 lead with a double-stuff but the Golden Bears grabbed five of the next six points to close out the match with a 25-20 set win.
USF travels to Minnesota State tomorrow with first serve slated for 4 p.m.
