ST. PAUL, Minn. - The third-seeded #8 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (22-7) is headed to Sanford Pentagon for the NSIC Tournament as they take on sixth-seeded #15 Winona State (21-7) on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals.

WINONA STATE SERIES HISTORY
Concordia's meeting with Winona State on Friday marks the 43rd meeting between the two schools all-time. The Golden Bears hold a record of 33-9 against the Warriors, including a 1-3 mark in neutral site meetings. After WSU claimed wins in seven of the first nine contests against CSP, the Golden Bears have rattled off 31 wins in the past 33. meetings. WSU's two wins during that stretch have come on Sept. 19, 2015 and Oct. 15 of this year. The two schools have met twice previously in the NSIC Tournament with the Golden Bears picking up wins in the 2015 championship match and the 2016 semifinal.

LAST MEETING VS WSU
Two weeks ago on Nov. 5, Concordia took three of four sets to knock off Winona State at Gangelhoff Center.

While it was the Golden Bears that came out on top in three of the four sets, it was the Warriors that held an edge in quite a few statistical categories as they out-hit CSP .230-185 and finished with 9.0-5.0 edge in blocks. Despite the efficiency being in WSU's favor, the volume was in CSP's as they edge the Warriors in kills at 56-52, digs at 67-64 and aces at 5-4 to guide the team to victory.
 
Jasmine Mulvihill provided much of that volume with a career-best 25 kills while delivering an efficient effort of her own at .435. She also chipped in five digs, an ace and a block in the win. Erin Fallert also reached double figures with 10 kills to go along with 17 digs for the double-double. It was also a historic night for Fallert as she became the 19th player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs with her final dig of the night.
 
Payton Nutter provided a double-double of her own with 51 assists and 12 digs while Tori Hanson registered a match-best 23 digs in the win.

NSIC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Entering this year, Concordia has gone 23-6 overall in the conference tournament in 11 previous trips. In those previous trips, CSP has reached the title match eight times and has won five titles (2004, 2005, 2006, 2015 and 2016). The Golden Bears have gone 10-1 in opening round matches as they have advanced to at least the semifinals in all but one season. Last season, Concordia dropped their quarterfinal match at home against Sioux Falls as the Cougars picked up a four-set victory.

LAST TIME OUT
Last week, the Golden Bears went 2-1 as they dropped a non-conference contest to Wayne State before claiming sweeps of Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State over the weekend.

CSP held their opponents to .174 hitting over the weekend while tallying a .245 mark of their own to finish with a 149-94 edge in kills. Concordia also held a 168-134 edge in digs as well as a 17-8 edge in aces over the three matches.

Jasmine Mulvihill finished with over a third of those kills as she collected a massive 55 kills (6.11 per set) to go along with 28 digs (3.11 per set) while hitting .316 over the three contests. Tori Hanson led the way in the back row with 43 digs (4.78 per set) while Payton Nutter contributed a solid 121 assists (13.44 per set) on the week.

IN THE POLLS
After spending last three weeks at #6 in the polls, the Golden Bears dropped to #8 in the last poll. 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 4.61 digs per set rank seventh in the NSIC and her 0.37 aces rank fifth. She's not the only Golden Bear in the top-20 in either category as Erin Fallert ranks 17th in digs per set (3.55) as well as 15th in kills per set (3.02) and Makenna Berger sits in 12th in aces per set (0.33). Fallert also ranks 17th with 2.86 kills per set.

Sara Macek has put together yet another efficient season as her .323 hitting percentage is good for 12th in the league while she also ranks 14th with 0.83 blocks per set. Jasmine Mulvihill's .303 hitting percentage also sits in the top-20 at 16th while her team-leading 4.25 kills per set rank fourth. Kennedy Brady has added a team-best 0.95 blocks per set as well, good for eighth. Payton Nutter rounds out the group as her 9.96 assists per set rank ninth.

ALL-NSIC PICKS
For the 18th consecutive season, the Golden Bears secured at least four All-NSIC selections as Erin Fallert, Tori Hanson, Sara Macek and Jasmine Mulvihill all earned All-NSIC First Team honors. In addition, Mulvihill was also named the NSIC Freshman of the Year. Hanson and Macek each earned All-NSIC honors for the second year in a row while Fallert and Mulvihill were both first-time picks.

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 sixth in DII-era history at CSP with 1,566 digs, sitting 25 shy of Ashley Olson in fifth. She isn't the only Golden Bear piling up career statistics as Erin Fallert became the 19th player in program history to join the 1,000 dig club on Nov. 5 against Winona State. Sara Macek also sits 71 kills shy of 1,000 with 929.