ST. PAUL, Minn. – The sixth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (19-4, 13-2 NSIC) is back in action on Tuesday night as they play host to #16 Winona State (18-5, 10-5 NSIC) on Tuesday night at 6 p.m.
 
WINONA STATE SERIES HISTORY
Concordia's meeting with Winona State on Tuesday marks the 42nd meeting between the two schools all-time. The Golden Bears hold a record of 32-9 against the Warriors, including a very impressive mark of 19-1 in 20 meetings in St. Paul. After WSU claimed wins in seven of the first nine contests against CSP, the Golden Bears have rattled off 30 wins in the past 32. meetings. WSU's lone win during that stretch before this season came back on Sept. 19, 2015 as the Warriors won in four sets.
 
LAST MEETING VS WSU
Back on Oct. 15, CSP saw their five-match winning streak come to a close as they dropped the final three sets in a four-set loss at Winona State.
 
After coming out with a massive 17 kills and a .424 hitting percentage in their first-set win, CSP was held below .150 in each of the final three sets of the night to finish at .148 (48-27-142). The WSU offense perhaps even more impressive than their defense as they hit over .350 in three of four sets to put up a mark of .317 (61-17-139) in the match. The Wildcats also held a 58-51 edge in digs as well as a 55-47 edge in assists as well as an 8-6 edge in total blocks. CSP did manage a 9-4 advantage in service aces on the night.
 
Tori Hanson provided a bright spot for the Golden Bears with 20 of the team's 51 digs to go along with seven assists and three aces in a full stat line. Makenna Berger and Erin Fallert each chipped in eight digs while Payton Nutter put up seven to go along with 38 assists in the match. Fallert and Nutter each contributed a pair of aces as well.
 
Sara Macek was the team's top offensive producer with 13 kills while Jasmine Mulvihill also reached double figures with 11 kills.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Concordia remained red hot as they took down Minnesota State on the road in three sets on Thursday before adding another sweep of #22 Upper Iowa at home on Saturday.
 
The two sweeps extended CSP's streak to 16 straight set wins as they have now won six straight matches and 10 of their last 11. The Golden Bears dominated on the defensive side of play as they held their opponents to an .096 hitting percentage while also tallying 17.0 total blocks in the two wins. Offensively, Concordia finished with a .272 hitting percentage to aid their 96.64 edge in kills.
 
Freshman Jasmine Mulvihill played a key role both offensively and defensively as she collected 5.83 kills per set, 2.17 blocks per set, 2.00 digs per set and 0.50 aces per set en route to being named the NSIC Offensive Player of the Week. Payton Nutter added a big weekend of her own as she dished out 13.50 assists per set while also grabbing 3.00 digs per set to garner NSIC Setter of the Week honors.
 
IN THE POLLS
After spending last week at #6 in the polls, the Golden Bears remained at #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.
 
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 seventh in DII-era history at CSP with 1,455 digs, sitting 87 shy of Jessica Lucia in seventh. She isn't the only Golden Bear piling up career statistics as Erin Fallert sits 17 digs shy of 1,000 with 983 and Sara Macek sits 105 kills shy of 1,000 with 895.