ST. PAUL, Minn. - The seventh-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (15-4, 9-2 NSIC) returns to Gangelhoff Center this weekend as MSU Moorhead (8-11, 3-8 NSIC) and third-ranked Northern State (17-2, 10-1 NSIC) come town for a pair of NSIC matchups.

MSU MOORHEAD SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears enter Friday's meeting with the Dragons with a record of 30-8 in 38 previous meetings as CSP has controlled the series in recent history. Since 2001, Concordia has picked up 30 wins in the last 31, including 15 in a row since 2008. During that winning streak, the Golden Bears have only dropped three sets as they have collected sweeps in 12 of those contests. In 18 all-time meetings in St. Paul, Concordia has gone 15-3.

LAST MEETING VS MSUM
In last year's meeting on Sept. 29, CSP cruised to a sweep of MSU Moorhead on the road to finish off the weekend on a high note.

One day after putting up their lowest hitting percentage of the conference season, the Golden Bears responded with their highest mark of the entire year at .383. CSP tallied an incredible 60 kills (20.00 per set) as they terminated on half of their 120 swings in the match. The defense also held the Dragons to .175 hitting and just 26 kills while collecting a 59-39 edge in digs as well.
 
Setter Elizabeth Mohr spread the ball around all afternoon with five different players registering between 19 and 26 swings and all five had at least nine kills. Mohr picked up a massive 52 assists (17.33 per set) to go along with eight digs.
 
The two middles, Sara Macek and Sydney Book, combined to lead the way as they grabbed 15 and 14 kills, respectively, while hitting at an extremely high clip. Macek finished at .520 hitting while Book hit .423.
 
Brooklyn Lewis was also efficient with 11 kills and a .409 hitting percentage while Hope Schiller collected double-double and Erin Fallert fell one kill short of a double-double. Schiller tallied 10 kills and 15 digs while Fallert matched her with 10 kills to go along with 11 digs. Tori Hanson also reached double figures in digs with 11.

NORTHERN STATE SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's meeting between the Golden Bears and the Wolves marks the 43rd time the two schools have met as CSP holds a record of 33-9 in the previous 42 meetings. The Golden Bears have dominated the series since 2003 as Concordia has won 31 of the past 33 meetings. Both of those wins for NSU during that stretch have come since 2015 with a four-setter back on Oct. 16, 2015 and a five-setter last year. Only two of the last eight meetings have been decided in three sets with five going to five sets. In 24 home contests in the series, Concordia has gone 21-3.

LAST MEETING VS NSU
In last year's meeting on Sept. 28, Concordia dropped a hard fought road contests to #3 Northern State in five sets.

It was a grind for both squads as CSP finished at .214 hitting with 75 kills while NSU finished even lower at .207 with 57 kills. Errors proved to be the difference as the Golden Bears tallied 32 hitting errors and 12 service errors in the match while NSU had 21 and four, respectively.
 
While Concordia was unable to pull out the victory, Sara Macek provided a career night in the loss. Macek was a force with a career-best 26 kills while hitting an even .500 as she committed just three errors on her 46 swings. She also chipped in four blocks.
 
Joining Macek in double figures were Brooklyn Lewis, Erin Fallert and Hope Schiller as the quartet combined for 66 kills on the night. Lewis put up 16 kills to go along with a career-high five blocks while both Fallert and Schiller collected double-doubles. Fallert finished with 13 kills and a career-best 21 digs while Schiller contributed 11 kills and 13 digs along with a pair of aces.
 
Elizabeth Mohr added another double-double with her second consecutive performance with 60+ assists and 10+ digs. She finished at 62 assists and 12 digs to go along with two aces. Tori Hanson also chipped in 20 digs and five assists on the night.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears picked up a pair of road wins as they knocked off Minot State in four sets on Friday before sweeping UMary on Saturday.

Concordia's offense was impressive over the weekend as they hit .307 as a team with a massive 15.86 kills per set over the two matches. CSP also held a massive 16-2 edge in aces as they tallied 2.29 aces per set as a team. In addition, the Golden Bears finished with a 113-102 advantage in digs and a 11.0-6.0 advantage in total blocks.
 
Erin Fallert and Jasmine Mulvihill proved to be a dynamic duo as Fallert led the team with 4.14 kills per set to go along with a .391 hitting percentage and 3.00 digs per set while Mulvihill put up 4.00 kills per set, a .387 hitting percentage, 2.29 digs per set as well as 0.57 aces per set. Payton Nutter orchestrated the offense with 12.86 assists per set while also chipping in 3.00 digs per set while Tori Hanson led the team with 3.86 digs per set on the weekend.

IN THE POLLS
After spending last week at #5 in the polls, the Golden Bears moved back to #7 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. 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 heading into this year.

CLIMBING THE RANKS
After reaching the 1,000 career dig mark late in her sophomore season, junior libero Tori Hanson has started to move her way up in the career record book at Concordia. Hanson currently ranks eighth in DII-era history at CSP with 1,402 digs, sitting 22 shy of Kayla Koenecke in seventh. She isn't the only Golden Bear piling up career statistics as Erin Fallert sits 58 digs shy of 1,000 with 942 and Sara Macek sits 134 kills shy of 1,000 with 866.