ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (7-2, 0-1 NSIC) is back in action this weekend as they host #21 Northern State (8-1, 1-0 NSIC) and MSU Moorhead (5-4, 0-1 NSIC) in their conference home opening weekend. Friday's match marks the 12th NSIC home opener under
Brady Starkey with CU going 11-0 in the first 11 openers.
THE MATCH-UPS... The Golden Bears take on the 21st-ranked Northern State Wolves in their 35th matchup all-time on Friday. Concordia leads the series 27-7 and has won all 25 meetings since a four set Wolves win on November 8, 2002 in Aberdeen. Last season, the Golden Bears met the Wolves three times and picked up sweeps in each meeting. The last match-up came in the NCAA Central Region Tournament quarterfinals as CU held NSU to .093 in the win.
Emily McDonough and
Kayla Koenecke each picked up double-doubles as McDonough finished with 11 kills and 10 digs and Koenecke had 10 kills and 14 digs. Kelsey Chambers had a match-high 12 kills and fell just short of a double-double with nine digs for Northern State.
On Saturday, the Golden Bears are facing off against the Dragons for the 32nd time in the schools' history. CU is 23-8 overall against MSUM and 23-1 in the last 24 meetings. Concordia has won eight straight dating back to November 9, 2007 when MSU Moorhead knocked off the Golden Bears in four sets. Concordia dropped the first set in their only meeting last season as they came back to win the match in four.
Heather Schiller connected on kills on her first 11 swings in the match, finishing with 12 kills at an .800 clip in 15 attempts. She added five total blocks (two solo). The Dragons were led by 10 kills from Kaitlin VanWinkle and 10 digs from Amber Krenske.
LAST TIME OUT... Concordia dropped their NSIC opener to Minnesota State in four sets (25-23, 19-25, 18-25, 15-25) on Tuesday evening. The loss marks the first conference opening loss for the Golden Bears under
Brady Starkey. Concordia got off to a quick start by taking the first set before the Mavericks held them in check for the final three sets. After hitting .600 in the first set, CU hit .240 or below in each of the final three sets for a total of .250 for the match. MSU finished the match with a .289 hitting percentage.
Anna Schlaak provided a bright spot for the Golden Bears with 16 kills on just 27 attempts for an efficient hitting percentage of .519. Schlaak fell three digs short of a double-double with seven.
NEW FACES... After graduating a handful of impact players from last season, a group of new faces have stepped up in their places. The Golden Bears have four players starting this season that were not regular players in the lineup last year. Returners
Kasey Williams (12.39 assists per set),
Anna Schlaak (3.39 kills and 2.46 digs per set) and
Emma Lange (2.71 kills per set and a .356 hitting percentage) as well as freshman
Mariya Sampson (2.52 kills and 1.72 digs per set) have all seen major playing time for the first time this season.
