Volleyball | 11.19.15

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The top-seeded #1 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team will take on fifth-seeded #7 Minnesota Duluth in the NSIC Tournament semfinals on Saturday afternoon at the Gangelhoff Center. The winner will face the winner of second-seeded #2 Southwest Minnesota State and sixth-seeded #21 Winona State in the championship on Sunday.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE... Play will begin on Saturday with a semifinal match between Southwest Minnesota State and Winona State at noon before Concordia and Minnesota Duluth face off at 2:30 p.m. The championship match is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday. All matches will take place at the Gangelhoff Center.

THE MATCHUP... The Golden Bears meet the Bulldogs for the 47th time in the history of the series as UMD holds a 25-21 edge in the previous matchups. Concordia has been far more successful since 2003 with 21 wins in the past 35 meetings to shift the momentum in their favor. The two schools have combined to win five of the seven NSIC Tournament titles as CSP won the first three (2004-06) while UMD has won the last two (2013-14). This season, the Golden Bears won both meetings, a non-conference match in Duluth and an NSIC contest in St. Paul.

In the meeting in St. Paul back on October 25th, the Golden Bears made quick work of the Bulldogs as they controlled every aspect of the game. CSP hit .461, their second highest mark of the season, while holding UMD to just .128 in the match. Concordia had a miniscule five hitting errors compared to 20 for Minnesota Duluth in addition to out-blocking UMD 8.0-4.0.

The efficiency of the Golden Bear offense came from nearly everyone as Riley Hanson, Emma Lange, Heather Schiller and Anna Schlaak all hit .400 or better in the match. Hanson led the way with 14 kills and a .591 hitting percentage while Lange joined her in double figures with 10 kills and an even better .667 hitting percentage.
 
Defensively, Taylor Dordan continued her recent run of strong play with a match-high 18 digs while Schlaak was next up with eight digs. Kasey Williams finished with 37 assists in solid performance guiding the CSP offense.

LAST TIME OUT... The Golden Bears survived for a five-set win over eighth-seeded Minnesota State in the opening round of the tournament.

Concordia fought back from down 2-1 in the match to claim the final two sets and pull out a dramatic win. CSP managed to hit .296 for the match, including marks of over .312 or better in the three sets they won, compared to .244 for MSU. A big factor came in serving as the Mavericks had 13 service errors compared to five for the Golden Bears.

CSP had three players surpass the 15 kill mark as Anna Pioske and Emma Lange had 16 kills each while Riley Hanson registered in at 15 kills. Pioske set a new career high with her 16 kills as she also chipped in eight digs. Lange and Hanson each added four blocks as well.
 
Kasey Williams had a big statistical night as she contributed 53 assists and 14 digs while Anna Schlaak also chipped in a double-double with 10 kills and 15 digs. Taylor Dordan paced all players in the match with 23 digs.

NSIC TOURNAMENT HISTORY... CSP heads into the weekend with a 5-2 record in tournament semifinal matches in their seven previous trips to the tournament. Concordia has gone 16-4 overall in the tournament as they have won three titles (2004, 2005 and 2006). Last year, the Golden Bears fell in five sets to Wayne State in their semifinal match.

NCAA STATISTICAL LEADERS... Heading into the tournament, several players rank near the top statistically on the national level. Kasey Williams went into the week registering in at fourth in assists per set at 12.25 while Riley Hanson sits at ninth in NCAA DII with her .406 hitting percentage. Heather Schiller comes in at 17th in the nation with 1.28 blocks per set on the year as well. As a team, CSP also ranks seventh in assists per set (13.62), ninth in kills per set (14.30) and ninth in hitting percentage (.277).