SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF. — Concordia (St. Paul) made history Saturday night by becoming the first program in NCAA Division II women's volleyball history to win five consecutive national championships.
Concordia-St. Paul wins fifth straight national volleyball title
The Golden Bears won in style, beating the top-ranked and previously unbeaten tournament host.
By NEWS SERVICES

The Golden Bears did it in style, too, beating top-ranked, previously unbeaten and tournament host California State San Bernardino 25-20, 31-29, 25-18 on Saturday night at Coussoulis Arena, ending the Coyotes' 66-match home winning streak.
"For these guys, what they always do when we go into other people's places is, there's just no distraction. All you're doing there is, you're focusing on volleyball," Concordia coach Brady Starkey said, referring to his players. "That's really kind of their mindset, I think, when they go. ... When we go play any big crowd, that's what they're doing. They're going to play volleyball. So, they just are so focused all the time when they do that. It amazes me, actually."
The Golden Bears (34-2) have won 30 consecutive NCAA tournament matches and have eliminated Cal State San Bernardino (32-1) four years in a row.
"It just so happens that we have a great matchup, and at the end of the games, we were the ones that were able to terminate at the end," Concordia senior libero Taylor Fieldsted said.
This is the second time that the Golden Bears have defeated the Coyotes on their home floor in the NCAA tournament, also doing so in the 2003 national semifinals.
It's also Concordia's second victory over the Coyotes for the national title, having defeated them in five sets in St. Paul in 2008, Concordia's second championship.
Concordia, which captured the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference's first women's national championship ever back in 2007, has won five of the league's 11 total national titles.
The second set proved to be critical in the outcome. The Coyotes fought off three consecutive set points to tie the score at 24-24.
Cal State went on to take a 29-28 lead after consecutive kills by Morgan Carty, but Concordia tied it on a kill by Kayla Koenecke, took a one-point lead on an attack error by Samanatha Middleborn and then clinched the set on another kill by Koenecke.
The Golden Bears then dominated the third set for the championship.
Koenecke had 15 kills while hitting .393 for the Golden Bears, while Megan Carlson and Ashley Murtha added 13 kills. Amanda Konetchy had 43 assists. Erienne Lauersdorf had three of Concordia's six service aces; Cal State had only one ace and eight service errors.
Canty and Danielle Newcombe each had nine kills to lead Cal State, which hit .220 compared to .248 for Concordia.
Concordia's Koenecke, Carlson, Murtha, Konetchy and Kate Habeck were all named to the all-tournament team.
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Bill Musselman coached the Gophers to the 1972 Big Ten men’s basketball title, and now his son, Eric, takes on Minnesota for USC.