ST. PAUL, Minn. - The fourth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (17-4, 11-1 NSIC) travels north this weekend for a Friday night meeting with Bemidji State (5-15, 2-10 NSIC) and a Saturday afternoon meeting with Minnesota Crookston (4-16, 2-10 NSIC).

BEMIDJI STATE SERIES HISTORY
On Friday, the Golden Bears meet the Beavers for the 42nd time in program history as Concordia enters with a record of 32-8-1 against BSU. Concordia has held a decisive edge in recent history in the series with 30 consecutive wins dating back to the 2002 season. During that span, all but two of Concordia's wins have been sweeps, including the last 11 in a row. In 14 meetings in Bemidji, CSP is 12-2.

LAST MEETING VS BSU
Nearly a year ago to the day on Oct. 13, 2017, CSP cruised to a sweep of Bemidji State in their return to Gangelhoff Center.

For the 14th time in program history, and the first time this season, the Golden Bears surpassed the .500 mark hitting as they finished the night at .506. CSP reached the mark for the first time since setting a program record of .591 against Bemidji State back on Nov. 12, 2016. The Golden Bears got better as the match went on, going from .387 in the first set to .516 in the second and a staggering .652 in the third. Concordia finished the match with 49 kills and just six errors on their 84 swings.

It was a balanced attack for Concordia as six different players registered in with at least five kills, including four that hit over .500 for the match. Brooklyn Lewis once again led the team with 11 kills as she hit .625 to go along with four blocks.
 
Perhaps most impressively, sophomore Sydney Book put together a near perfect performance with 10 kills on just 12 swings as she finished with a staggering .833 hitting percentage. She also played a major role at the net as she added a career-best seven blocks in the win.
 
MINNESOTA CROOKSTON SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's contest in Crookston between CSP and Minnesota Crookston marks the 35th meeting between the two programs with Concordia holding a 31-3 edge in the previous meetings. After three straight wins for Minnesota Crookston to begin the series, Concordia has rattled off 31 wins in a row with 29 sweeps dating back to 2000. Minnesota Crookston's last win in the series came back on Oct. 29, 1999 in St. Paul. In 15 meetings all-time in Crookston, CSP has won 14 of them.

LAST MEETING VS UMC
Back on Oct. 14 of last season, the Golden Bears completed a sweep of the weekend as they took care of Minnesota Crookston in straight sets at Gangelhoff Center.

After hitting an impressive .581 in the opening set with 20 kills (17 assisted by Elizabeth Mohr), Concordia turned to their defense in the final two sets as they held Minnesota Crookston to .150 in the second and .119 in the third. Overall, CSP finished at .300 while holding UMC to .182. Concordia also led the way with five aces compared to none for the Golden Eagles.

While Hope Schiller failed to reach double figures in digs for just the second time in the last nine matches, she did manage to pace the team with 15 kills while hitting a solid .429 in the win. Schiller reached 15+ for the third time this season, falling one short of her season high.
 
Elizabeth Mohr collected assists at a high clip as she finished with 46 assists for an average of 15.33 pet set. She also added five digs and two aces. The freshmen duo of Tori Hanson and Erin Fallert played a major role in the back row as Hanson paced all players with 21 digs and three aces while Fallert put up 11 digs. Hanson surpassed 20 digs for the fourth time this season, falling three shy of her career best.

LAST TIME OUT
After dropping a non-conference contest on Wednesday night at UMD, Concordia bounced back to pick up a pair of sweeps over Mary and MiSU over the weekend.

The Golden Bears collected an extremely efficient .338 with 135 kills compared to 36 errors on the week while holding opponents to 102 kills, 47 errors and a .192 hitting percentage. In Saturday's sweep of Minot State, CSP set a single-match school record with a .600 hitting percentage as they committed just three errors compared to 51 kills on 80 swings in the match.

Sara Macek was consistently dominant as she collected at least 11 kills while hitting .435 or better in all three matches to finish with 4.44 kills per set and a .583 hitting percentage for the week. Elizabeth Mohr orchestrated an efficient CSP offense with 12.78 assists per set (115 total assists) to go along with 16 digs over the three matches.

IN THE POLLS
After sitting in the top spot in the AVCA Coaches Poll two weeks ago, CSP dropped to #4 this week. 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 83 weeks at #1 since they debuted there in the 2004 preseason poll. Since the 2007 season, CSP has ranked #1 at least once every season.

STATISTICAL LEADERS
Heading into the weekend, the Golden Bears rank near the top in the country in several areas as a team and as individuals.

CSP currently leads in the nation in assists per set at 14.36 and kills per set at 15.15. Elizabeth Mohr has played a big role in that success as her 13.09 assists per set also ranks first in the country. Concordia also ranks fourth in hitting percentage with a .278 hitting percentage.

Brooklyn Lewis has led the way offensively as her 4.00 kills per set rank 21st in the nation (fourth in the NSIC) and her .357 hitting percentage ranks 42th (seventh in the NSIC). Sara Macek registers in even higher in hitting percentage at .414, good for eighth in the nation and first in the league.

Tori Hanson also ranks fifth in the NSIC with 4.88 digs per set while also ranking fifth in the conference with 0.42 aces per set.