OMAHA, Neb. – A razor-sharp third set and a stirring fourth-set rally had the College of Saint Mary within a few swings of taking NAIA No. 4 Concordia University to a fifth set on Pink Out Night Saturday.

However, the veteran Bulldogs had enough in the tank to avoid that final race to 15.

Concordia held off the hard-charging Flames 25-15, 25-17, 19-25, 25-22 in Great Plains Athletic Conference volleyball at the Lied Fitness Center.

"I was happy with how responded after the first two sets,'' CSM Coach Rick Pruett said.

Pruett said he challenged his team to play a faster brand of volleyball after the first two sets, from setting the ball lower to hustling back to serve between points to everything in between.

"I said, 'Hey, what can we lose? We're down two-zero. Why not?''' he said. "It paid off because we played a really good third set.''

The Flames took charge late in the third. Leading 17-16, they scored eight of the final 11 points with some determined play. Caylin Barnett and Madalyn Welp smacked two kills each during that run.

In the fourth though, Concordia regained control and sprinted to a 15-6 lead. Pruett called timeout.

"I said, 'We have to be faster. We have to be quicker,''' he said. "And we turned the whole game around.''

CSM outscored the Bulldogs 13-5 out of the timeout, getting two kills each from Welp and Caitlyn McCormack, and one from Green during the run. Elen Pruett served two aces during that burst and Kathryn Gaughen added one.

That pulled the Flames within 20-19. CSM was still within 23-21 after Welp's kill and 24-22 after Green's kill, but Makenna Starkey's kill ended the match.

Welp, a 6-foot-1 right-side hitter out of Sioux City, finished with a career-high 16 kills, hitting a sparkling .350.

"She just got that mean streak again,'' Rick Pruett said. "She had a really good day.''

Green added 11 kills and hit a solid .280. Elen Pruett had 16 digs and McCormack was just behind with 14. Kaitlyn Busby notched 21 assists and Kennedy Buck had 13. Pruett finished with three aces and McCormack was next with two.

Coach Pruett said the goal is to take the positives from the match into the final three GPAC matches of the regular season: Wednesday at Doane University (7:30 p.m.), Nov. 1 at home against Hastings College (3 p.m.) and Nov. 4 at Mount Marty University (7:30 p.m.).

*The Flames honored senior Krissy Radicia and junior Elen Pruett before the match, as they both recently reached the 1,000-dig milestone for their careers.

*Donations were accepted on behalf of cancer awareness throughout the evening and will be sent to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. In a pre-match ceremony, everyone in attendance was invited to fill out a Stand Up To Cancer card and honor loved ones affected by the disease.

*The Flames rallied to win Saturday's JV match 14-25, 25-22, 15-12.