Volleyball | 9.14.16
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The #1 Concordia-St. Paul (8-0, 0-0 NSIC) opens up action in the NSIC as they travel to Upper Iowa (5-3, 0-0 NSIC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. before hosting #9 Winona State (9-0, 0-0 NSIC) in the conference home opener on Saturday at 4 p.m.
THE MATCHUPS
The Golden Bears meet the Peacocks for the 16th time in the all-time series on Thursday in the trip to Fayette. In the previous 15 meetings, Concordia has gone a perfect 15-0 while dropping just one set back in 2008. Thursday's meeting marks the eighth time the two schools have met in Fayette with the last meeting resulting in a sweep back on Sept. 23, 2014.
Last year in the NSIC opener, CSP rolled to a sweep of Upper Iowa in St. Paul. The Golden Bears dominated play at the net as they stayed unbeaten in 15 meeting against the Peacocks. Concordia held UIU to .106 hitting compared to Concordia's mark of .262. The Golden Bears also collected eight blocks while Upper Iowa didn't have a single one on the night. Concordia really spread it around on offense as eight different players had kills and six different players had at least four kills.
Emma Lange led the group with nine kills as she hit .286 while also collecting three blocks.
Saturday's contest in St. Paul between CSP and Winona State marks 36th meeting over the 41 year history of the series, with Concordia winning 27 of the first 35 matches. After the Warriors dominated the series early with seven wins in the first nine matchups, the Golden Bears rattled off 24 straight wins up until last season. The two teams met three times last year, once in a preseason tournament, once in NSIC play and once in the NSIC Tournament title, with Concordia winning two of the three meetings.
In last season's NSIC Tournament Championship, the Golden Bears held off Winona State to claim their fourth tournament title and first since 2006. The duo of
Emma Lange and
Anna Pioske was dynamic as the two of them both contributed a match-high 20 kills on the day. The 20 kills represented a career high for Pioske while it was just two short of Lange's career best. Lange hit an incredible .679 to set a new career high as she committed only one error. Pioske also added 10 digs to give her a double-double in the win. CSP had
Riley Hanson and
Emma Lange named to the All-Tournament Team while McKenna Larsen and Maria Fruechte made the team from WSU.
LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears stayed unbeaten to begin the year after winning the Colorado Premier Challenge over the weekend.
CSP knocked off three top-10 opponents in their four matches as they dropped just one set. As a team, Concordia hit .331 while holding their opponents to .150 in a dominant performance. The Golden Bears saw players step up across the board as eight players averaged over 2.50 kills per set and six averaged 2.43 or more digs per set.
Kasey Williams earned Tournament MVP honors while
Riley Hanson,
Emma Lange and
Shelby Seurer were also named to the All-Tournament Team.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Kasey Williams' efforts over the weekend earned her both Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week and NSIC Setter of the Week honors as she led the nation with 13.62 assists per set along with 3.23 digs per set en route to being named the Colorado Premier Challenge MVP.
Williams currently leads the nation in assists by a full 1.36 assists with a mark of 13.68 per set, ahead of fellow NSIC setter Megan Larson of SMSU. She has also led the offense to a .341 hitting percentage, good for second in the country. In her career, Williams sits in fourth in program history with 3,571 assists and 12.49 assists per set while also ranking 18th with 788 digs.
In addition to Williams,
Riley Hanson also was named the NSIC Offensive Player of the Week after hitting a league-best .506 to make it two straight weekends over .500 hitting. She led the tream with 3.54 kills with double digit kills along with a hitting percentage of at least .429 in each match. Her .510 hitting percentage currently leads the country.
