ST. PAUL, Minn. - The top-seeded #1 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (24-4) opens up play in the NSIC Tournament at home as they play host to eighth-seeded Minnesota State (16-12) on Wednesday night.

THE MATCHUP... The Golden Bears and Mavericks will meet for the 27th time in the all-time series as the Golden Bears hold a 22-4 record through the first 26 meetings. After MSU handed Concordia a loss in the conference opener last season, CSP has rattled off four straight wins in the series, including a four-set win in last year's NSIC Tournament quarterfinal match.

Concordia swept the regular season series as they opened the NSIC slate with a sweep in St. Paul back on September 22nd and added a sweep in Mankato back on October 20th.

In the meeting back in October, Concordia's defense shined as they held MSU to just a .144 hitting percentage as they forced 17 attack errors and collected 8.0 blocks. The offense managed to hit .279 in the win.

With just 45 kills as a team on the night, five different Golden Bears registered at least seven kills in a balanced attack. Anna Schlaak paced the offense with 12 kills while Riley Hanson hit a solid .474 with 10 kills on the night. Emily McDonough fell a kill short of a double-double with nine kills and 10 digs and Heather Schiller and Emma Lange each chipped in seven kills apiece.
 
Kasey Williams finished with 43 assists as she led the offense while Taylor Dordan secured the defense with 19 digs. Hope Schiller was also active in the back row with eight digs to go along with three service aces.

LAST TIME OUT... The Golden Bears picked up a huge weekend sweep over a pair of ranked opponents as they knocked off #3 Wayne State in four sets and #20 Augustana in five.

Concordia was impressive on both offense and defense as they hit .296 as a team for the two matches while holding opponents to a .200 hitting percentage.

Kasey Williams was once again solid as she picked up her 13th and 14th double-doubles on the season. She put up at least 54 assists and 12 digs in each match, including a season-high 64 assists on Saturday.

NSIC TOURNAMENT HISTORY... CSP will look to continue their first round success as they have gone a perfect 7-0 in opening round games in their six tournament appearances. Concordia has gone 15-4 overall in the tournament as they have won three titles (2004, 2005 and 2006). Last season, the Golden Bears fell in five sets to Wayne State in the tournament semifinals.

HISTORIC WEEKEND... Two weekend's ago, Riley Hanson as she became the 17th member of the 1,000 kill club at Concordia in Friday's win before setting a single-match career high with 24 kills on Saturday. Her efforts earned her Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week as well as NSIC Offensive Player of the Week honors.

NCAA STATISTICAL LEADERS... Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, several players rank near the top statistically on the national level. Kasey Williams went into the week registering in at third in assists per set at 12.35 while Riley Hanson has moved up to sixth in NCAA DII with her .414 hitting percentage. Heather Schiller comes in at 11th in the nation with 1.33 blocks per set on the year as well. As a team, CSP also ranks third in assists per set (13.74), sixth in kills per set (14.48) and eighth in hitting percentage (.278).