ST. PAUL, Minn. - The second-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (6-2, 0-0 NSIC) opens up NSIC play this week as they travel to Upper Iowa (7-1, 0-0 NSIC) on Thursday before returning to St. Paul for their home opener against Winona State (3-5, 0-0 NSIC) on Saturday.
 
UPPER IOWA SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and Peacocks are set to meet for the 18th time in the all-time series on Thursday as CSP enters the contest with a perfect mark of 17-0 in the previous meetings. Concordia has dropped just two of the 53 sets overall while eight of their wins have come in Fayette.

LAST MEETING VS UIU
In last season's NSIC opener in St. Paul on Sept. 14, 2017, Concordia-St. Paul took the first, second and fourth sets to claim a four-set victory over the Peacocks.

The offense reached the .300 mark hitting as the efficient attack picked up 63 kills with just 15 errors on 160 attempts as four different players reached double figures in kills in the win. Leading the way was junior Brooklyn Lewis with 17 kills to go along with a .368 hitting percentage. Mariya Sampson added 14 kills while Shelby Seurer and Sara Macek each had 11. Seurer tacked on six digs while Macek added five blocks.
 
Hope Schiller fell just a kill shy of making it five players in double figures with nine while she paced all players with 20 digs. She also added three blocks and an ace in what was a full stat line. Schiller was one of four Golden Bears to finish with at least 10 digs as Erin Fallert, Taylor Soine and Elizabeth Mohr all joined her in that group. Fallert finished with 13 while Soine had 12 and Mohr had 10. In addition to Mohr's 10 digs, she added 59 assists to complete the double-double.
 
WINONA STATE SERIES HISTORY
Concordia's meeting with Winona State on Saturday marks the 40th meeting between the two schools all-time. The Golden Bears hold a record of 31-8 against the Warriors, including a very impressive mark of 18-1 in 19 meetings in St. Paul. After WSU claimed wins in seven of the first nine contests against CSP, the Golden Bears have rattled off 29 wins in the past 30 meetings. WSU's lone win since 2000 came back on Sept. 19, 2015 as the Warriors won in four sets. Concordia has won all five meetings since then.
 
LAST MEETING VS WSU
Back on Sept. 16, 2017, the Golden Bears picked up a big early season road victory at then-#11 Winona State with a four-set win at McCown Gymnasium.
 
The CSP offense broke out in a big way against the Warriors as Concordia put up their best hitting percentage of the season to that point at .385. Winona State also finished the afternoon with a respectable mark in what was an offense-heavy contest in which they finished at .270. Despite winning three of the four sets, CSP held just a 63-61 edge in kills as WSU committed more hitting errors (20-11) and service errors (9-5) in the match. The Golden Bears also held a 64-52 edge in digs and a 6.5-2.0 edge in total blocks.
 
Sophomore Sara Macek was nearly perfect on the afternoon as she picked up 15 kills and did not commit a single error on 22 swings to finish with a career-best .682 hitting percentage. Her mark registered in at 16th best in single-match history at Concordia. While Macek led the way in efficiency, Brooklyn Lewis led the way in volume with 16 kills to go along with six digs, four total blocks and a .355 hitting percentage in a full stat line. Mariya Sampson joined the duo in double figures with 12 kills in the win.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, Concordia claimed their sixth Colorado Premier Challenge title as they won the final three matches of the weekend in Denver.

After dropping four of the first six sets of the weekend, the Golden Bears won the final nine sets to knock off MSU Denver, #14 Central Missouri and #8 Southwest Minnesota State. CSP finished with a .281 hitting percentage while holding their opponents to .177 combined with also holding an edge of 229-179 in kills, 236-197 in digs and 28.0-25.0 in total blocks.

Brooklyn Lewis, Hope Schiller and Elizabeth Mohr were all named to the Colorado Premier Challenge All-Tournament Team. Lewis paced the squad with 4.67 kills per set (70 total kills) while hitting an efficient .393 in the four matches to earn All-Tournament honors. Mohr guided the offense with 13.27 assists per set (199 total assists) while tacking on 2.07 digs per set (31 total digs).

IN THE POLLS
After opening the season in the top spot in the AVCA Preseason Poll, CSP has held down the number two spot in the rankings in each of the past two weeks. 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 the country in several areas both as a team and as individuals.

CSP currently leads the nation in assists per set at 14.32 while also ranking second in kills per set at 15.07. Elizabeth Mohr has played a big role in that success as her 13.04 assists per set also rank first. Concordia also ranks in the top-30 in hitting percentage as the team ranks 28th with a .259 hitting percentage.

Brooklyn Lewis has led the way offensively as her 4.21 kills per set rank 20th in the nation and her .370 hitting percentage ranks 64th.

Tori Hanson also ranks inside the top-50 in a pair of categories as her 14 service aces and 146 total digs both rank 40th overall.