ST. PAUL, Minn. - The third-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (9-2, 3-0 NSIC) will look to continue their strong start in NSIC play this weekend as they travel to #18 Wayne State (9-2, 2-1 NSIC) on Friday and Augustana (5-6, 0-3 NSIC) on Saturday.

WAYNE STATE SERIES HISTORY
On Friday, the Golden Bears take on the Wildcats for the 45th time in the all-time series as CSP holds a record of 32-12 against WSC heading into the matchup. Since Wayne State won seven of the first eight meetings of the series, Concordia has rattled off 31 wins in the past 36 contests. That stretch included 19 wins in a row for CSP spanning from 2003-2009. The last seven meetings have featured four regular season wins for Concordia while Wayne State has claimed two wins in three postseason meetings. In 16 trips to Wayne, CSP has gone 13-3 against the Wildcats.

LAST MEETING VS WSC
In the first round of the NSIC Tournament last season, top-seeded Concordia survived an opening round scare against eighth-seeded Wayne State in a five-setter as CSP erased 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to win the match.

While serving played a major role in Concordia's regular season sweep of the Wildcats, serving almost cost the Golden Bears on Wednesday night as they committed 16 service errors over the five sets. CSP did also manage to hold a 7-4 edge in service aces, however, while WSC committed six serving errors as well.

Brooklyn Lewis cleared 20 kills for the fourth time in seven matches, matching her career best with 26 kills set just 12 days prior. Lewis committed just three errors on her 46 swings to put up a .500 hitting percentage to go along with two blocks. Mariya Sampson added a season high with 18 kills as she fell two short of her career high of 20 on the night while also registered a career high with 16 kills on the night. Schiller also chipped in 17 digs to pick up the massive double-double.
 
AUGUSTANA SERIES HISTORY
Concordia enters Saturday's contest with the Vikings with a record of 23-1 in the all-time series with the Vikings. Augustana's lone win came back in 1988 as CSP has won all 23 meetings since the turn of the century. While the Golden Bears have consistently come out on top against Augie, the last four meetings have gone more than three sets, with three of which going five sets as Concordia has had to come from behind in all three of those matches. The Golden Bears have won all nine meetings between the two schools in Sioux Falls.

LAST MEETING VS AUGIE
Back on Oct. 21, 2017 at Gangelhoff Center, the Golden Bears pulled out a four-set victory against Augustana to pick up their second consecutive win against a ranked opponent.
 
After hitting a red-hot .531 in the first set and .545 in the second, the Golden Bears were forced to grind it out in the final two sets as they hit .159 in the third and .286 in the fourth to finish the match at .338. CSP tallied 70 kills over the four sets, including 23 in the fourth, while Augie finished with just 54. Concordia also held an 8-5 advantage in service aces, giving them 21 aces on the weekend, as well as a 68-61 advantage in digs.
 
Setter Elizabeth Mohr spread the ball around throughout the night as four different CSP players finished with at least 14 kills. Mohr tallied 58 assists on the night, good for 14.50 assists per set. Shelby Seurer and Brooklyn Lewis both finished with a team-high 18 kills as Seurer added to her night with a .680 hitting percentage as well as five digs and three blocks. Hope Schiller completely filled the stat sheet with 15 kills, 11 digs, four aces and four blocks for her sixth double-double on the year. Mariya Sampson joined the trio in double figures as she added 14 kills and four blocks as well.

LAST TIME OUT
On Tuesday night, Concordia picked up a road sweep of Minnesota State as Hope Schiller became the 18th player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs.

Schiller picked up six digs in the match to bring her career total of 1,003, making her the first CSP player since Kasey Williams in 2016 to reach 1,000. Anna Schlaak and Emily McDonough both reached the mark that season as well. In addition to Schiller's work in the back row, the senior also paced the Golden Bears on the night with 12 kills.
 
As a team, Concordia was forced to grind out the victory as they overcame 10.0 Minnesota State blocks to finish with a .255 hitting percentage and 44 kills. The CSP defense held MSU to .168 and 34 kills on the night as the Golden Bears also added four aces while allowing none.

IN THE POLLS
After opening the season in the top spot in the AVCA Preseason Poll, CSP dropped to #3 in the rankings this week after spending the past two weeks at #2. 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 82 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.

STATISTICAL LEADERS
Heading into the NSIC action, the Golden Bears rank near the top of both the conference and the country in several areas as a team and as individuals.

CSP currently leads the nation in assists per set at 14.38 while also ranking second in kills per set at 15.05. Elizabeth Mohr has played a big role in that success as her 13.09 assists per set also rank first. Concordia also ranks in the top-20 in hitting percentage as the team ranks 16th with a .262 hitting percentage.

Brooklyn Lewis has led the way offensively as her 4.41 kills per set rank 11th in the nation and her .367 hitting percentage ranks 67th. Tori Hanson also ranks 50th in the country with 5.14 digs per set.