ST. PAUL, Minn. - The sixth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (17-4, 11-2 NSIC) is set for a split weekend as they travel to Minnesota State (15-6, 8-5 NSIC) for a 6 p.m. start on Thursday before returning home on Saturday to host Upper Iowa (15-6, 7-6 NSIC) at 5 p.m.

MINNESOTA STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears enter Thursday night's meeting with the Mavericks with a 30-4 record in 34 previous matchups. While Concordia has dominated on their home court with a record of 15-0, CSP has also had success in Mankato as they have claimed 12 wins in 15 trips. Concordia has been especially successful in recent years in the series as they have registered 12 consecutive wins dating back to the 2014 season. MSU's last win in the series came back on Sept. 16, 2014 in a four-setter in Mankato.

LAST MEETING VS MSU
In last year's meeting, the Golden Bears rode a big night from Sara Macek to take down Minnesota State in four sets at Gangelhoff Center.

For the seventh match in a row, Sara Macek surpassed double digits in kills with a .435 or better hitting percentage as she grabbed 23 of the team's 58 kills on night with a .436 hitting percentage. The 23 kills fell three shy of her career best set back on Sept. 28 against Northern State.
 
Elizabeth Mohr took advantage of a red hot Macek as she tallied 54 assists to go along with five digs and a pair of blocks while leading the team to hit .285 on the night. Brooklyn Lewis joined Macek in double figures with 11 kills while Sydney Book added nine.
 
Tori Hanson and Hope Schiller both reached double figures in digs with 12 for Hanson and 10 from Schiller while Erin Fallert fell one short with nine.

UPPER IOWA SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and Peacocks are set to meet for the 19th time in the all-time series on Thursday as CSP enters the contest with a perfect mark of 18-0 in the previous meetings. Concordia has dropped just two of the 56 sets overall while eight of their wins have come in St. Paul.

LAST MEETING VS UIU
On opening night of the conference season last year, Concordia got off to a strong start in NSIC play with a sweep of Upper Iowa.

CSP held a decisive edge in kills with 43 compared to 30 for the Peacocks while collecting a .270 hitting percentage compared to .138 for UIU. The Golden Bears also led in digs at 59-55 as well as 6-4 in service aces.
 
The offense was evenly spread out as three different players finished in double figures on the night. Brooklyn Lewis picked up a match-high 14 kills with a .393 hitting percentage while Hope Schiller and Sara Macek each had ten. Schiller finished off the double-double with 14 digs to bring her career total to 979 while Macek didn't commit a single error for a career-best .714 hitting percentage.
 
Elizabeth Mohr orchestrated the attack with 41 assists while she also grabbed three of the team's six service aces in the match. In the back row, Tori Hanson hit 20 digs yet again to lead the way while Erin Fallert chipped in 10 digs as well.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears grabbed two wins on their home court to move into a tie for second in the NSIC standings with seven matches to go.

It was a dominant weekend for the CSP block as the unit collected 23.0 total blocks over the two wins while their opponents finished with just 3.0. The performance helped give the Golden Bears a huge .295-.136 edge in hitting percentage as well as an 83-67 edge in kill. Concordia also built a significant advantage in service aces as they collected 15 and allowed just three.
 
Leading the way for Concordia was the duo of Jasmine Mulvihill and Sara Macek as Mulvihill was named NSIC Offensive Player of the Week and Sara Macek was named the NSIC Defensive Player of the Week. Mulvihill filled the stat sheet with 4.33 kills per set, 3.00 digs per set, 1.00 blocks per set and 0.50 aces per set while hitting .340 in the two wins. Macek finished with a massive 2.33 blocks per set while also contributing 2.33 kills per set on a .303 hitting percentage.

IN THE POLLS
After spending last week at #7 in the polls, the Golden Bears moved up to #6 this week after a 2-0 weekend. 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.

CONFERENCE LEADERS
As one of the top teams in the NSIC, the Golden Bears have gotten production from throughout their lineup as seven different players that rank in the top 20 in the league in at least one statistical category this season.

Tori Hanson has provided CSP with a solid presence in the back row as her 4.44 digs per set rank sixth in the NSIC and her 0.40 aces also rank sixth. She's not the only Golden Bear in the top-20 in either category as Erin Fallert ranks 17th in digs per set (3.52) as well as 15th in kills per set (3.04) and Makenna Berger sits in 12th in aces per set (0.33).

Sara Macek has put together yet another efficient season as her .372 hitting percentage is good for fifth in the league while she also ranks 15th with 0.81 blocks per set. Jasmine Mulvihill's .294 hitting percentage also sits in the top-20 while her team-leading 3.72 kills per set ranks ninth. Kennedy Brady has added a team-best 0.96 blocks per set as well, good for ninth. Payton Nutter rounds out the group as her 9.00 assists per set rank 11th.

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 1,423 digs, sitting one shy of Kayla Koenecke in seventh. She isn't the only Golden Bear piling up career statistics as Erin Fallert sits 41 digs shy of 1,000 with 959 and Sara Macek sits 120 kills shy of 1,000 with 880.