ST. PAUL, Minn. - The top-ranked Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (21-4, 14-1 NSIC) travels to Southwest Minnesota State (17-7, 12-4 NSIC) on Friday and Sioux Falls (16-8, 11-5 NSIC) on Saturday for the team's final road weekend of the regular season.

SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and Mustangs head into the Friday with an extensive history as Concordia has met SMSU more times than any other program on the volleyball court. In the previous 62 meetings, CSP holds an edge of 36-25-1 over Southwest Minnesota State, including a 25-8 advantage in NSIC play. Concordia has found similar success both home and away in the series as they have gone 13-8 in Marshall compared to 19-12 in St. Paul. The two teams have been especially familiar with one another in the past few years with nine meetings since the start of the 2016 season with the Golden Bears going 6-3 during that stretch, winning both matches earlier this season.

LAST MEETING VS SMSU
In the second meeting this season back on Sept. 22, CSP stormed back from a 2-1 deficit in the match to win the final two sets and pick up a five-set victory on SMSU at Gangelhoff Center.

After an hour and 39 minute delay due to an area power outage, the two teams gave the fans their money's worth as they put on a show. Both offenses hit at a solid clip as CSP hit .264 and SMSU hit .303. They combined for 140 kills as Concordia tallied 75 compared to 65 for the Mustangs. Serving proved to be a major difference maker as the Golden Bears held a 12-2 edge in aces. The 12 aces tied for fourth-most in a five-set match at Concordia, tying for the most in the 25-point scoring format.

Leading the way in the serving category was Hope Schiller as she also tied a 25-point scoring format, five-set program record with five aces in the win. She also added a double-double with 15 kills and 13 digs.
 
Perhaps the biggest individual performance came from Tori Hanson as the sophomore set the program record in the 25-point scoring format with 34 digs, shattering her previous career high with 27. Hanson's 34 digs were the most in a match for Concordia since Mary Slinger tallied 35 on Dec. 1, 2007. Hanson added another career best as she chipped in 10 assists for her first career double-double.
 
SIOUX FALLS SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's meeting between the Golden Bears and Cougars marks the 14th all-time meeting between the two schools with CSP holding a 10-3 record in the 13 previous meetings. Since Sioux Falls joined the NSIC, Concordia has won all nine contests, including six sweeps. CSP and USF have met four times in Sioux Falls with CSP picking up wins in all four. USF's last win in the series came all the way back in 1999.

LAST MEETING VS USF
Back on Sept. 21, the Golden Bears won their ninth consecutive match in a sweep of Sioux Falls in St. Paul.

CSP put up a mark of .351 hitting as a team on the night as they finished with 47 kills and just 13 errors on 97 swings. The defense also did their job by holding the Cougars to .146 as a team in addition to collecting 46 digs compared to 33 for Sioux Falls. CSP also doubled up USF in service aces with a margin of 6-3.
 
Elizabeth Mohr played a big part in the offensive success as she tallied 42 digs (14.00 per set) to go along with six digs and a service ace. Erin Fallert was a prime beneficiary with 14 kills and a .444 hitting percentage while she also chipped in five digs and a block. The 14 kills were one shy of her career best.
 
Tori Hanson finished with over a third of the team's digs with 16 while she also led the team with three aces. Hope Schiller followed with nine digs while also finishing second on the team with 11 kills. Both of CSP's middles were extremely efficient as Sydney Book committed just one error with nine kills on 12 swings for a .667 hitting percentage while Sara Macek had eight kills and one error on 13 swings for a .538 hitting percentage.

LAST TIME OUT
Concordia moved into sole possession of first place in the NSIC standings with four matches to go as they picked up back-to-back four-set wins over St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth at home.

The Golden Bears utilized a strong offensive attack with a combined 16.00 kills per set and a .285 hitting percentage in the two wins while also collecting a massive 16-4 edge in service aces. CSP got everyone involved with five different players registering 2.25 kills per set or more and five different players averaging 2.62 digs per set or more on the weekend.

Elizabeth Mohr collected 14.25 assists per set to go along with 2.62 digs per set as she increased her national lead in assists per set. Sara Macek once again led the offense as she registered 3.88 kills per set as she picked up 31 kills on just 56 swings for a .429 hitting percentage.

IN THE POLLS
The Golden Bears opened the season at #1 in the polls before returning there in week six and again this week. Last week's top two teams, Northern State and Nebraska-Kearney, both dropped matches over the weekend while CSP picked up a pair of wins, including a four-set victory over then-#7 Minnesota Duluth. 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.

NSIC AT A GLANCE
With two weekends left in the regular season, the Golden Bears hold a one-game lead over Northern State in the conference standings with four matches to play. It remains tight near the top with Minnesota Duluth just two games back from CSP while Southwest Minnesota State three behind while Wayne State and Sioux Falls sit one game further back to put all of the top six still within four games. In 15 seasons under head coach Brady Starkey, Concordia has claimed at least a share of the NSIC regular season title in every season except for 2014, with CSP not dropping more than two conference matches in any of those seasons.

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 kills per set at 15.24 and second in assists per set at 14.49. Elizabeth Mohr has played a big role in that success as her 13.21 assists per set ranks first in the country as well. Concordia also ranks third in hitting percentage with a .283 hitting percentage.

Brooklyn Lewis has led the way offensively as her 3.87 kills per set rank 31st in the nation (fifth in the NSIC) and her .348 hitting percentage ranks 52nd (10th in the NSIC). Sara Macek registers in even higher in hitting percentage at .415, good for seventh in the nation and first in the league.

Tori Hanson also ranks sixth in the NSIC with 4.63 digs per set while also ranking fifth in the conference with 0.40 aces per set.

CHASING 1,000
Concordia-St. Paul senior right side Brooklyn Lewis has been a force over her two seasons as a regular starter and now finds herself within striking distance of joining the 1,000 kill club at CSP. The Kasson native sits at 943 kills heading into Friday night's match. Lewis would become the 21st Golden Bear to reach the mark, with Mariya Sampson the last to reach the mark as she reached it in last season's region tournament.