ST. PAUL, Minn. - The second-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (11-2, 5-0 NSIC) returns home for a pair of important early season contests as they host Sioux Falls (8-5, 3-2 NSIC) on Friday and #10 Southwest Minnesota State (9-4, 4-1 NSIC) on Saturday.

SIOUX FALLS SERIES HISTORY
Friday's meeting between the Golden Bears and Cougars marks the 13th all-time meeting between the two schools with CSP holding a 9-3 record in the 12 previous meetings. Since Sioux Falls joined the NSIC, Concordia has won all eight contests, including five sweeps. CSP and USF have met  five times in St. Paul heading into the weekend with Concordia claiming four wins in those five matches. The Cougars' lone road win in the series came all the way back in 1999.

LAST MEETING VS USF
Back on Oct. 27, 2017, Concordia swept the Cougars as they cruised to a 25-20 set win in the first before squeezing past for 25-23 and 26-24 set wins in the final two sets.

The match proved to be much closer than the final result indicated as none of the three sets featured a margin larger than five points, including two by the minimum margin of two points. The competitiveness of the match showed up in the stats as CSP held a slight edge of .308 to .223 in hitting percentage as well as a 50-38 edge in digs while the Cougars outpaced Concordia in total blocks (10.0-8.0) and service aces (7-4). Perhaps the biggest gap came in the kills department as the Golden Bears turned their 117 swings into 53 kills while USF finished with 36 kills on 103 attempts.

Brooklyn Lewis paced all players with 19 kills and a .424 hitting percentage on the night while Hope Schiller also registered in with 15 kills in the win to go along with 11 digs for the double-double. Elizabeth Mohr put up big assist numbers for CSP with 43 of the team's 48 assists on the night while she also added seven digs and a pair of aces as well.

SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and Mustangs head into the weekend with an extensive history as Concordia has met SMSU more times than any other program on the volleyball court. In the previous 61 meetings, CSP holds an edge of 35-25-1 over Southwest Minnesota State with a 24-8 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 18-12 in St. Paul. The two teams have been especially familiar with one another in the past few years with eight meetings since the start of the 2016 season with the Golden Bears going 5-3 during that stretch.

LAST MEETING VS SMSU
Earlier this month, the Golden Bears swept the Mustangs in the Colorado Premier Challenge title match to win the tournament.
 
The Golden Bears picked up their sixth tourney crown in the past 11 years as CSP previously claimed the top spot in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2016. In addition, Concordia flipped last year's result in the tournament championship as the Mustangs knocked off Concordia in four sets.

CSP dominated from start to finish as they held SMSU to .094 hitting while compiled a .250 hitting percentage themselves. The Golden Bears also had advantages of 43-28 in kills, 7-2 in service aces, 54-44 in digs and 6.0-4.0 in total blocks.

Brooklyn Lewis paced the squad with 14 kills in the match while Hope Schiller collected a double-double with 12 kills and 13 digs. For the weekend, Lewis collected a massive 70 kills (4.67 per set) with a hitting percentage of .393 while Schiller tallied 4.07 kills per set and 2.53 digs per set.

LAST TIME OUT
Last week, the Golden Bears extended their winning streak to eight as they remained unbeaten in NSIC play with their three wins on the week.

CSP had won 21 consecutive sets before dropping the opening set of Saturday's five-set victory at Augustana. Concordia outpaced their opponents in kills (157-126), hitting percentage (.272-.226), digs (174-145), service aces (21-8) over the three matches.
 
Brooklyn Lewis bounced back from a quiet match against Minnesota State to finish the week with 4.36 kills per set and a .330 hitting percentage as she hit .422 or better in both of the weekend's matches. Elizabeth Mohr compiled 136 assists for an average of 12.36 assists per set, including her first 50-10 match of the season as she picked up 57 assists and 13 digs in the win at Augie.

IN THE POLLS
After opening the season in the top spot in the AVCA Preseason Poll, CSP moved back up to #2 in the rankings this week after spending the previous week at #3. 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 weekend, the Golden Bears rank near the top in the country in several areas as a team and as individuals.

CSP currently leads the nation in assists per set at 14.20 while also ranking second in kills per set at 14.89. Elizabeth Mohr has played a big role in that success as her 12.96 assists per set also rank first. Concordia also ranks just outside the top-10 in hitting percentage as the team ranks 11th with a .262 hitting percentage.

Brooklyn Lewis has led the way offensively as her 4.49 kills per set rank 10th in the nation and her .378 hitting percentage ranks 35th. Tori Hanson also ranks 57th in the country with 5.07 digs per set.