ST. PAUL, Minn. - The 2016 Truman volleyball squad opened the season with a pair of matches against some of the nation's best in No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul and No. 17 Northern State on Friday in the Twin Cities. The Golden Bears took the noon showdown in straight sets (25-16, 25-19, 25-16) and the Wolves followed suit in the nightcap (25-21, 25-17, 25-15).

The Bulldogs (0-2) were led by a trio of hitters with at least 10 kills on the day including Kayla Bastian (14), Bailey O'Drobinak (12) and Jocelynn Livingston (11). Mariya Sampson paced the attack for CSP (3-0) with 10 kills while NSU (2-0) turned to Holly Vancura and her 13 kills.

In the day's first match, Concordia-St. Paul stormed out to a 10-2 advantage and never trailed by more than five points in the first set. In the second set, Truman led its hosts 9-8 before they rattled off 15 of the next 18 points to regain a 23-12 upper hand. A 7-1 Bulldog run cut the deficit back to five, 24-19, before the Golden Bears took the match point and a 2-0 advantage. CSP led the third set 12-2 and from that point on, the margin was never less than five points.

The leaders for Truman included Livingston (6 kills, 6 points), Savvy Hughes (14 assists, 4 service aces) and Bastian (10 digs).

For the highly contested first set against Northern State, there were five ties through the first 36 points, but the Bulldogs never relinquished their lead until point No. 37. At that point, an attack error by Jasmine Brown put the Wolves up 19-18. After that, NSU tallied six of the final nine points to win the set.

In the second game, Northern State was up by five, 7-2, early before Truman cut the margin to four on five different occasions, the final one being 11-7. That happened when Natalie Brimeyer registered her third kill of the match in the midst of a 6-3 run for the Bulldogs that made the score 14-12. However, the Wolves ended the set on an 11-5 burst to take the set and the match.

Leaders for the nightcap included Bastian (11 kills), Hughes (20 assists), Brimeyer (2 blocks), O'Drobinak (2 blocks), and Claire Wandrey (12 digs).

Competition doesn't get any easier for Truman on Saturday as it takes on No. 5 Western Washington (10 a.m.) and No. 17 Northern State again (4 p.m.). Live stats will be available for both matches right here at TrumanBulldogs.com.