#2 Concordia-St. Paul 3, Parkside 0 (25-19, 25-18, 28-26)
The Parkside volleyball team ended their tough trip at the Keweenaw Classic with a 3-0 defeat against No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Bears, who are a national powerhouse in volleyball, improved to 3-0 while the Rangers finished 1-3 in the opening weekend.
 
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HOW IT HAPPENED
The Rangers hung tough in the first set, trailing 22-18 late, but the Golden Bears scored three of the final four points to earn the 25-19 win. In the second set, Parkside never led but was right there the entire way. CSP again pulled away in the end to take the 2-0 advantage. In the third set, Parkside found themselves up 23-19, but a quick 4-0 run by CSP tied it up and the Golden Bears eventually took the lead and held on to the 28-26 win.
 
STATWORTHY
Senior Rachel Hedman led the Rangers with nine kills while freshman Lindsay Krznarich had six and sophomore Jessica Pappas had five. Junior Lexi Packard and Krznarich each had 3.0 blocks while junior Alysha Brickl had a team-high 15 assists and eight digs. As a team, CSP hit .248 while the Rangers finished at .107.
 
WEEKEND RECAP
Parkside finished the weekend 1-3, with all three losses coming against ranked opponents and the top-3 teams in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll. Pappas led the team with 44 kills in the four matches, while Hedman had 38 and senior Jazmine Neal had 30. Redshirt-senior Ellie Adams had a team-high 71 assists while junior Kaylee Kuecker had 39 digs.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Parkside is excited to host the 2021 Hampton Inn Invitational next weekend on Friday, Sept. 10 and Saturday, Sept. 11. The Rangers will face Colorado Christian at 10:15 a.m. in the home-opener and No. 7 Minnesota-Duluth at 7:15 p.m. On Saturday, they'll battle Quincy at 10:15 a.m. and Minnesota State at 7:15 p.m. Be sure to visit www.ParksideRangers.com/Tickets for all ticket information this season.