ST. PAUL, Minn. – The #2 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (9-1, 2-0 NSIC) returns home for a mid-week NSIC contest against Minnesota State (6-4, 0-2 NSIC) on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at Gangelhoff Center.
 
MINNESOTA STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and Mavericks are set to meet for the 31st time in the all-time series history on Tuesday night. CSP enters with an impressive 26-4 record against Minnesota State, including a perfect 13-0 record on their home court. The Golden Bears have dominated the series in recent history by winning the last eight meetings since the Mavericks' four-set win in Mankato back on Sept. 16, 2014. The eight-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
In the opening round of the NSIC Tournament last season, Concordia rolled to a sweep against MSU as they took the three sets 25-12, 25-17 and 25-11. The win marked the third consecutive season the Golden Bears knocked off the Mavericks in the NSIC Tournament first round.
 
The Golden Bear defense was stifling as they held the Mavericks to just .028 hitting in the match with 9.0 total blocks on the night. The offense wasn't far behind with an impressive mark of .365 hitting with 42 kills on 96 swings. CSP also held an edge of 52-42 in the digs as well as a 4-2 edge in service aces in an all-around effort.
 
Emma Lange was especially impressive with a team-leading 12 kills on 16 swings without an error to finish with a hitting percentage of .750 on the night. Lange's .750 hitting percentage also represented an NSIC Tournament record, surpassing her own mark of .679 from last year. Riley Hanson wasn't far behind as she picked up nine kills with a .562 hitting percentage to go along with nine blocks (one solo and eight block assists) in a dominant performance.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Last Thursday, Concordia improved to 14-1 in NSIC openers under Brady Starkey with a four-set win against Upper Iowa before grabbing another four-set win on the road at #11 Winona State on Saturday afternoon. CSP's win over Winona State was their fifth win against a ranked opponent through 10 matches this season as they improved to 5-1 against the AVCA Top 25.
 
On the weekend, CSP compiled an impressive .339 hitting percentage while allowing a mark of .230 in the two matches.
 
Elizabeth Mohr was the guiding force for the Concordia offense as she put up a massive 117 assists (14.62 per set) as well as 20 digs (2.50 per set) for a pair of double-doubles in the two wins. Brooklyn Lewis paced the squad with 4.12 kills per set to go along with an efficient .362 hitting percentage while she also added 1.12 digs and 0.75 blocks per set.
 
IN THE POLLS
After sitting in the top spot in the first two AVCA Polls, CSP has ranked #2 over the past two weeks after falling to now-#1 SMSU in the Colorado Premier Challenge title match. 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 now spent an incredible 77 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 this week, Concordia has gotten production from throughout their lineup with four different players that rank near the top of the NSIC in 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 as well as total assists as she has amassed an average of 13.41 assists per set while tallying 523 assists overall.
 
The Golden Bears' two middles have been extremely efficient with Sara Macek's .387 hitting percentage ranking fifth in the NSIC while Shelby Seurer's mark of .363 ranks eighth.
 
Tori Hanson rounds out the group as she ranks eighth in the league with 4.39 digs per set.