ST. PAUL, Minn. – The top-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (21-2, 14-1 NSIC) wraps up a three-game road trip on Tuesday night as they travel to Minnesota State (12-11, 6-9 NSIC). First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m.
MINNESOTA STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and Mavericks are set to meet for the 32nd time in series history on Tuesday night. CSP enters with an impressive 27-4 record against Minnesota State, including a 10-3 record in 13 trips to Mankato. The Golden Bears have dominated the series in recent history by winning the last nine meetings since the Mavericks' four-set win in Mankato back on Sept. 16, 2014. The nine-game winning streak is Concordia's second longest in the series as they previously won 15 in a row from 2003-2011.
LAST MEETING VS MSU
Back on Sept. 19, the Golden Bears bounced back from dropping the opening set to win the final three against the Mavericks at Gangelhoff Center.
It was a grind for Concordia as they managed to claim the victory despite being out-hit (.187-.182), out-dug (60-57) and out-blocked (10.0-6.0) in the match. CSP did, however, edge the Mavericks in service aces (10-8) while committing less service errors (8-9) in the win. They also finished with 11 more kills than MSU with a margin of 53-42.
On the night,
Brooklyn Lewis led the Golden Bears in kills as she amassed 15 kills on 29 swings to give her a match-best hitting percentage of .379. Lewis was one of four Golden Bears in double figures as
Mariya Sampson,
Hope Schiller and
Sara Macek also reached the mark. Sampson finished with 13 kills while Schiller and Macek each had 10. In addition to her 10 kills, Schiller grabbed her third double-double on the year with 12 digs as well as three aces and two blocks in a solid stat line.
LAST TIME OUT
Over the weekend, Concordia moved into sole possession of first place in the NSIC after picking up a pair of huge road wins at Sioux Falls and then-#1 Southwest Minnesota State.
Saturday's victory moved the Golden Bears to a perfect 12-0 all-time against the top-ranked team in the country. After that victory, CSP and SMSU have now met five times as the top two ranked teams with CSP going 3-2 and the #2 team going 4-1.
Brooklyn Lewis tied her career high in kills on Friday night with 19 before surpassing that mark with 20 on Saturday to give her 5.57 kills per set and a .397 hitting percentage on the weekend.
Elizabeth Mohr orchestrated a CSP offense that finished the weekend with a .310 hitting percentage and 14.57 kills per set as she collected 90 total assists (12.86 per set) and 14 digs (2.00 per set).
IN THE POLLS
After sitting in the top spot in the first two AVCA Polls, CSP returned to the top spot this week after knocking off SMSU on Saturday. Concordia has been a mainstay near the top of the poll for over a decade as they haven't ranked outside the top-10 since 2003 and have spent just one week outside the top-5 since October 2012. The Golden Bears have spent an incredible 78 weeks at #1 since they debuted there in the 2003 preseason poll. Since the 2007 season, CSP has ranked #1 at least once every season.
NSIC LEADERS
Heading into the week, Concordia has gotten production from throughout their lineup with six different players that rank near the top of the NSIC in six different statistical categories so far this year.
Setter
Elizabeth Mohr leads the way in that regard as she leads the nation in assists per set while also ranking third in total assists as she amassed an average of 13.36 assists per set while tallying 1122 assists overall heading into the week.
The Golden Bears'
Sara Macek ranks fourth in the league with a .401 hitting percentage while
Shelby Seurer follows close behind in eighth at .342. Yet another CSP middle has put together an efficient season as
Sydney Book's .421 hitting percentage in NSIC play leads the league by a full .020. While Macek, Seurer and Book have led the way in hitting percentage,
Brooklyn Lewis has been the go-to hitter for the Golden Bears as her 3.88 kills per set rank sixth in the league while her 4.11 points per set rank seventh as well. Lewis has been even better in conference play as her 4.26 kills per set in league contests rank second in the NSIC.
Freshmen
Tori Hanson and
Erin Fallert round out the group as Hanson ranks seventh in the league with 0.36 aces and eighth with 4.38 digs per set while Fallert ranks eighth with 0.36 aces per set.
