Jimmy Lafakis/MDN Minot State freshman outside hitter Caitlyn Messner reacts after scoring a point in the third set of Friday night's match against No. 5 Concordia-St. Paul in Minot. The Golden Beavers took a four-set victory, winning 25-15, 25-21, 21-25, 25-16.

In the middle of the third set, Dana Cordova told her Minot State volleyball team to keep making the No. 5-ranked Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears work.

The head coach’s adamant tone pushed the team to capture a set victory. Although the Golden Bears (14-4, 8-2 NSIC) earned a 25-15, 25-21, 21-25, 25-16 win at the MSU Dome in Minot, the Beavers (1-18, 0-10) didn’t make the four-set victory an easy one.

“We’re resilient,” Cordova said. “It would be easy for this team to just quit, but they don’t. In the NSIC, you’re going to go up against ranked teams. To take the third game off of them just tells you that the (Beavers) always thought they were in that game.”

Friday night’s contest marked incremental progression for the Beavers. They started off on the slower side, but showed flashes of potential in the second set.

In the third set, the unit clicked. In brief moments after timeouts, Minot State players stayed loose with special handshakes.

“I like playing tough teams,” junior defensive specialist Quinn Billaney said. “I feel that we play better as a team and we go at it harder when we play tougher teams.”

Dating back to 2007, Concordia-St. Paul has won nine NCAA Division II national championships, including back-to-back titles in 2016 and 2017.

“We were passing really well and started getting in their head a little bit,” Cordova said. “When you make the other coaches call timeouts and they’re not used to doing that, as a coach you get pretty excited. We were just having fun and enjoying what we were doing. There was nowhere else we would rather be.”

Despite their opponents’ stature, Cordova reiterated a critical message to the Beavers.

“The pressure is not on us,” Cordova said. “We are not ranked. We are not supposed to be able to stay in the same gym as some of these teams. We found our identity in the fact that we’re never going to give up, and we’re going to keep coming at them. We’re going to keep battling. We’re a team that’s starting from the bottom and building itself up, and they’ve been at the top of the mountain.”

The Golden Bears held a 61-44 kill advantage on Friday night, as well as a 56-37 lead in the assists category. Payton Nutter handed out a match-high 50 assists for the Golden Bears.

Concordia-St. Paul’s Erin Fallert (16 kills), Sara Macek (14) and Jasmine Mulvihill (13) all finished with double-digit kill figures. Senior outside hitter Shelby Spuller tallied a team-high 15 kills for the Beavers, and senior middle hitter Emily Falldorf added 11.

“We play well when we have fun,” said junior setter Mackenzie Froehlich, who finished with a team-high 31 assists. “It’s important that we’re staying positive and really supporting each other. We don’t want to be the team that is on a roller coaster ride.”

The Beavers will undergo a quick turnaround, as they will host Minnesota State (13-5, 6-4 NSIC) at noon this afternoon in the MSU Dome.

Jimmy Lafakis covers Minot High School sports and Class B high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @JJLII30.