ST. PAUL, Minn. – The third-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (11-3, 6-1 NSIC) hits the road for a huge midweek non-conference showdown with top-ranked Minnesota Duluth (13-2, 6-1 NSIC) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night in Duluth.
The rivalry between the two schools has seen a lot of ups and downs since the first meeting back in 1975. The Bulldogs hold a 25-19 edge in the all-time series, but it has been much more of an even matchup since the Golden Bears established themselves as a national power in the early 2000's.
After Minnesota Duluth won the first 11 meetings in the series up until 2003, Concordia has edged the Bulldogs with 19 wins in the last 33 meetings. Their most impressive stretch came from 2007 until 2010 as CSP strung together eight straight wins during that span. In recent history, UMD has begun to regain some traction as they have gone 4-2 against the Golden Bears, including winning four of the last five.
Last year, the Bulldogs swept CSP in Duluth before claiming a four set win in St. Paul to complete the season sweep. Both matches were closer than the results showed last year as all but one of UMD's set wins were decided by three points or less. Both matches were something of a grind-it-out, defensive battle as UMD combined to hit .239 in the two matches while CSP hit .179. Offensively, Hanson led the way with 21 kills (3.00 per set) and a .281 hitting percentage while
Mariya Sampson,
Emma Lange and
Heather Schiller all registered at least 14 kills (2.00 per set) and hit between .283-.289.
Anna Schlaak had eight kills and 13 digs in the trip to Duluth and 10 kills and 11 digs in the meeting in St. Paul as well.
Concordia enters the matchup riding high with a five-match winning streak that has included three wins over teams ranked inside the top-20. Two of those wins came last weekend as the Golden Bears knocked off #19 Augustana in five sets before coming from behind in a four set win against #11 Wayne State.
Kasey Williams was a big part of Concordia's strong play this weekend as she helped guide the offense to a .298 hitting percentage in the two matches. Williams put up 12.89 assists per set and 3.33 digs per set as she finished with at least 57 assists and 13 digs in each match. She enters this week ranked third in the NSIC with 12.27 assists per set.
Live stats and live video will be available for the match at the links listed above.
