Volleyball | 9.21.16
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The #1 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (11-0, 3-0 NSIC) will look to remain unbeaten as they hit the road north to take on Minnesota Crookston (5-6, 1-2 NSIC) on Friday and Bemidji State (5-6, 1-2 NSIC) on Saturday.
THE MATCHUPS
Concordia enters Friday's matchup looking to improve their mark of 28-3 all-time against Minnesota Crookston, including a mark of 13-1 in Crookston. Since the turn of the century, the Golden Bears have dominated the series against the Golden Eagles with 28 straight wins, dropping just two sets during that stretch. UMC's last win in the series came in a season sweep in CSP's first season in Division II back in 1999.
In last season's meeting, the Golden Eagles broke a streak of 22 straight sweeps for the Golden Bears as they pushed CSP to four sets in Crookston on Oct. 31. In what was a relatively non-descript match, the Concordia defense was suffocating as they limited Minnesota Crookston to a miniscule .057 hitting percentage and forced 27 attack errors while collecting 7.0 blocks.
Riley Hanson and
Emma Lange paced the Golden Bears as they each contributed 17 kills in the winning effort.
Saturday's contest in St. Paul between CSP and Winona State marks the 39th meeting between the two programs with Concordia holding a 29-8-1 edge in the previous meetings. As was the case against UMC, the Golden Bears have held a decisive edge in recent history in the series with 27 consecutive wins dating back to the 2002 season. During that span, all but two of Concordia's wins have been sweeps, including the last nine in a row. In 13 trips to Bemidji, CSP is 11-2.
Last year against the Beavers, the Golden Bears picked up a sweep in short order at Bemidji. While it was an impressive night for the entire team, it was a historic night for
Riley Hanson. The junior was unstoppable all evening as she took 12 swings and delivered 12 kills in a perfect night. While her 12 attempts meant her 1.000 hitting percentage fell just short of qualifying for the school record, it marked the first time in her career she had a perfect night with double-digit kills and one of only a handful of times it has happened in Concordia history.
LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears improved to 11-0 with a four-set mid-week win at Minnesota State on Tuesday night.
The Golden Bears rode their defense to victory as they held the Mavericks to .065 for the match, including marks in the negative in each of the final two sets. Concordia also hit well offensively in their three set wins as they hit .388 in the first, third and fourth sets while they -.139 in their set loss. CSP also held a 55-40 advantage in digs and a 10-2 advantage in service aces.
Emily McDonough helped lead the way from the back as she led all players with 18 digs. She was joined in double figures with
Anna Schlaak, who finished with 11 digs and seven kills.
Offensively,
Riley Hanson continued to pace the Golden Bears with 13 kills along with three digs while hitting .409 while
Emma Lange collected 10 kills, two blocks and two digs.
Anna Pioske also added nine kills and Sarah Macek put up seven.
Kasey Williams continued her strong start with 48 assists as well.
NATIONAL LEADERS
Heading into this week, Concordia has a pair of NCAA individual statistical leaders while the team ranks first in two categories and second in another.
Kasey Williams maintains her comfortable lead in assists per set at 13.32 as her mark sits over a full assist higher than any other setter.
Riley Hanson also held onto her top spot in hitting percentage as she improved to .511 on the year, making her one of three players hitting over .500 on the year.
Emma Lange also ranks near the top in that category as her .440 hitting percentage ranks seventh.
Not surprisingly, the team also leads the nation with 14.84 assists per set and 15.9 kills per set while their team hitting percentage of .343 trails just Nebraska-Kearney.
PERFECT START
Concordia heads into the weekend with a perfect 11-0 record for the fourth time in program history and first time since 2011. The start matches the team's 11-game winnng streak back in 2007, the year the team won their first national title, as they went on to finish 36-4 that season. The only other seasons they had a better start were in 2011 when they won their first 22 matches before finishing 34-2 as national champions and in 2009 as they went a perfect 37-0 to win the title.
