ST. PAUL, Minn. - The top-seeded #1 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (27-2) continues play in the NSIC Tournament this weekend as they take on fourth-seeded #6 Minnesota Duluth (24-5) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in the semifinals. The winner will advance to face the winner of second-seeded #4 Southwest Minnesota State and sixth-seeded #16 Augustana in the championship at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Gangelhoff Center.

TICKET INFORMATION
In the NSIC Tournament, ticket prices are as follows: Adult tickets are $10, senior tickets are $8, student tickets (all schools) are $2 and children five and under are free.

MINNESOTA DULUTH SERIES HISTORY
CSP enters the weekend with a record of 23-27 in the all-time series with UMD, including a record of 12-14 in St. Paul. Concordia has had much more success recently in the series as they have claimed 18 wins in the last 26 meetings. The two teams have met frequently in postseason play over the last several season as the Golden Bears and Bulldogs have faced off five times in the postseason since 2011. In those contests, Concordia has gone 4-1 with UMD's lone win coming in the NSIC Tournament title back in 2013.

LAST MEETING VS UMD
Back on Oct. 7, Concordia saw their 18 match NSIC winning streak snapped by Minnesota Duluth in four sets in Duluth as the Bulldogs handed the Golden Bears their lone conference loss of the season.

Concordia saw a conference winning streak that lasted 10 days shy of a full calendar year snapped as the streak came to an end at 18. CSP's last loss in NSIC action came all the way back on Oct. 14, 2016 at home against Southwest Minnesota State. The Golden Bears saw an even longer NSIC road winning streak fall as their streak of 20 in a row away from ended at Romano Gymnasium. That streak lasted nearly two full years with the last road loss coming at Northern State back on Oct. 16, 2015.

The Bulldogs offense gave the CSP defense a tough time all afternoon as they amassed 71 kills with 19 errors on 164 attempts. UMD hit .333 or better in each of the first three sets en route to putting up the highest opponent hitting percentage of the season against the Golden Bears at .317. Minnesota Duluth also added an 80-66 edge in digs in the win.

Brooklyn Lewis made it four straight matches with 15 kills as she once again paced the squad with 16 in the match. She also added four digs and two blocks while hitting .273. Shelby Seurer joined her in double figures as she closed out a strong weekend with 12 kills on an efficient .480 hitting percentage to go along with five blocks. Sydney Book fell one short of double figures with nine kills.

NSIC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Entering this weekend, Concordia has gone 22-4 overall in the conference tournament in 10 trips. In the previous nine trips, CSP has reached the title match seven times and have won five titles (2004, 2005, 2006, 2015 and 2016). The Golden Bears have gone 7-2 in semifinal matches all-time in the tournament. Last season, Concordia knocked off Minnesota State, Winona State and Southwest Minnesota State en route to claiming their second title in as many years.

LAST TIME OUT
On Wednesday night, top-seeded #1 CSP survived an opening round scare against eighth-seeded #21 Wayne State in a five-setter on Wednesday night at Gangelhoff Center.

The Golden Bears bounced back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to claim the five-set victory. WSC controlled play in the first with a 25-18 win before CSP answered with a decisive 25-13 set win of their own in the second. WSC bounced back to pull within a set of victory with a 25-23 win in the third, but the Golden Bears stormed back to take the fourth 25-20 and the fifth 15-12.

Brooklyn Lewis' second half surge this season continued as she cleared 20 kills for the fourth time in seven matches, matching her career best with 26 kills set just 12 days ago. The junior committed just three errors on her 46 swings to put up a .500 hitting percentage to go along with two blocks.

IN THE POLLS
After sitting in the top spot in the first two AVCA Polls, CSP returned to the top spot in each of the past three weeks after knocking off then-#1 SMSU on Oct. 28th. 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 80 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 postseason, Concordia has gotten production from throughout their lineup with six different players that rank near the top of the NSIC in seven different statistical categories this year.
 
Setter Elizabeth Mohr leads the way in that regard as she leads the nation in assists per set while also ranking second in total assists as she amassed an average of 13.35 assists per set while tallying 1362 assists overall heading into the week.
 
The Golden Bears' Sydney Book ranks fifth in the league with a .385 hitting percentage while Shelby Seurer follows close behind in seventh at .365. While Book and Seurer have led the way in hitting percentage, Brooklyn Lewis has been the go-to hitter for the Golden Bears as her 3.94 kills per set rank fourth in the league while her 4.22 points per set rank sixth as well. Lewis was even better in conference play as her 4.25 kills per set in league contests ranked third in the NSIC and her .352 hitting percentage ranked 10th.
 
Freshmen Erin Fallert and Tori Hanson round out the group as Fallert ranks sixth in the league with 0.37 aces while Hanson ranks ninth with 4.19 digs per set.