ST. PAUL, Minn. – The #10 Concordia-St. Paul women's volleyball team (2-2) wraps up non-conference play this weekend as they travel to the Colorado Premier Challenge on Friday and Saturday. CSP opens up action against West Florida at noon and Ferris State at 7 p.m. on Friday.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
The Golden Bears head back to Denver for their annual trip to the Colorado Premier Challenge. The tourney is co-hosted by MSU Denver and Regis, with both campuses hosting matches throughout the weekend. CSP is set to play both of their matches at Regis on Friday as they face West Florida at noon and Ferris State at 7 p.m. Concordia will then be placed into one of three brackets on Saturday with match times and locations to be determined.
Concordia enters the weekend as six-time championships of the Colorado Premier Challenge. CSP took home the crown last season while they also took the top spot in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2016.
In last year's tournament, Concordia was well represented on the All-Tournament Team as
Brooklyn Lewis,
Hope Schiller and
Elizabeth Mohr all earned the honors.
After dropping their first match of the tournament to Texas A&M-Commerce in 2018, CSP stormed back with a four-set victory over MSU Denver and back-to-back sweeps of then-#14 Central Missouri and then-#8 Southwest Minnesota State to win the tourney.
In the championship, CSP dominated from start to finish as they held SMSU to .094 hitting while compiled a .250 hitting percentage themselves. The Golden Bears also had advantages of 43-28 in kills, 7-2 in service aces, 54-44 in digs and 6.0-4.0 in total blocks.
LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend at the Terrace Hotel Classic, the Golden Bears finished with a 2-2 record as they picked up wins against Florida Southern and Valdosta State and losses to Hillsdale and #1 Tampa.
Over the four matches, Concordia's defense held their opponents to a combined .198 hitting percentage while the offense finished with a mark of .248. CSP also held a 217-198 edge in digs as well as a 22-13 edge in service aces.
Junior
Erin Fallert did a little bit of everything for the Golden Bears on the weekend as she led the team with 3.38 kills on a .299 hitting percentage while also contributing 3.75 digs per set, good for second on the squad. She added seven assists, four blocks and two service aces.
Sara Macek added an efficient weekend as she hit .488 with 49 kills on 84 swings to give her 3.06 kills per set.
THE MATCHUPS
Both of Concordia's Friday opponents are familiar foes as CSP has faced West Florida four previous times and Ferris State twice.
Against West Florida, the Golden Bears have tallied a 3-1 record, including a 2-1 record in the Colorado Premier Challenge. The last meeting came in 2017 with Concordia collecting a four-set victory over the Argonauts.
The Golden Bears have not fared quite as well against the Bulldogs of Ferris State as they have dropped both previous meetings. Last season on Ferris State's home court, CSP fell in three sets as FSU held them to .076 hitting. The two schools also met in the Colorado Premier Challenge championship match with the Bulldogs claiming a thrilling five-set win.
