ST. PAUL, Minn. - The seventh-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (8-2, 2-0 NSIC) returns home for a huge pair of matches in their NSIC home opening weekend as they play host to #4 Minnesota Duluth (9-1, 2-0 NSIC) for NSIC Day and Roast the Dogs on Friday at 7 p.m. and #15 St. Cloud State (10-0, 2-0 NSIC) on Saturday at 1 p.m.

NSIC DAY
The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) will host its popular NSIC Day on Friday at Concordia as CSP will host St. Cloud State in soccer at 5 p.m. and UMD in volleyball at 7 p.m.

Fans attending the game will be encouraged to stop by the NSIC promotional table to enter to win an NSIC prize pack, take photos with NSIC props, and get a chance to chat with NSIC personnel.  Giveaways at the NSIC table will include t-shirts, rally towels and phone wallets. Snapchat filers will also be made available to fans at Sea Foam Stadium and in the Gangelhoff Center.  All fans will be encouraged to join the NSIC's social media efforts by using #NSICDay. Don't miss these exciting NSIC contests and a chance to leave with NSIC gear!

ROAST THE DOGS
Friday's meeting with Minnesota Duluth marks the annual Roast the Dogs. The first 200 fans will receive a free hot dog near the entrance outside of the Gangelhoff Center on a first come, first serve basis. Available while supplies last.

MINNESOTA DULUTH SERIES HISTORY
CSP enters Friday's meeting with a record of 26-28 in the all-time series with UMD, including a record of 14-14 in St. Paul. Concordia has had much more success recently in the series as they have claimed 21 wins in the last 30 meetings. In the past 10 meetings overall, CSP has picked up seven wins. The two teams split the season series last year with each team winning on their home court.

LAST MEETING VS UMD
Back on Oct. 10, 2018, then-#3 Concordia picked up a crucial NSIC victory as they defeated then-#7 Minnesota Duluth in four sets.

While it was the Bulldogs' offense that stole the show in the first meeting of the season, it was Concordia's that proved to be the difference tonight. CSP hammered out a .313 hitting percentage with 15.50 kills per set (62 total kills) as five different hitters registered at least nine kills. The Golden Bears also took advantage with an aggressive serve as they tallied eight service aces compared to just two for UMD. Minnesota Duluth wasn't far behind offensively as they had 58 kills and a .265 hitting percentage while doubling up the Golden Bears in blocks at 10.0-5.0.
 
Elizabeth Mohr made sure to get everyone involved in the CSP attack as she spread her 52 assists out fairly evenly while finishing off the double-double with 12 digs. She also chipped in a pair of blocks, a pair of aces and a pair of kills as she did a little bit of everything in the win.
 
Sydney Book finished as the top producer in kills for Concordia with 15 while Brooklyn Lewis followed close behind with 13 kills and a career-best 14 digs for her second consecutive double-double. Kennedy Brady contributed 12 kills while not committing an error on the night to put up a .545 hitting percentage. She also led the team with three blocks as well. Fellow middle Sara Macek was nearly as efficient with 11 kills and just one error for a .476 hitting percentage.

ST. CLOUD STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears are set to take on St. Cloud State for the 28th time in the all-time series on Friday night with CSP holding a record of 26-1 in the previous 27 meetings. After the Huskies picked up a sweep in the first ever meeting back in 1975, Concordia has rattled off 26 consecutive wins in the series, including 22 sweeps. Dating back to 2008, all but two matches have ended in three sets with the set wins for SCSU coming in St. Cloud in 2014 and St. Paul in 2018. Concordia has won all 11 meetings on their home court.

LAST MEETING VS SCSU
In the Oct. 19, 2018 meeting between the two schools, CSP picked up their 26th consecutive win in the series with a four-set win in St. Paul.

The Golden Bears came out swinging in the opening set as they hammered out a .571 hitting percentage but were forced to grind it out the rest of the way as they hit .257 or lower in the final three sets to finish the match at .259. While the offense was slowed over the final three sets, it was the defense that picked up the slack as they held the Huskies to a .130 hitting percentage or below in the three sets they won, including a mark of just .087 in the decisive fourth set. Overall, the team managed a 66-43 edge in kills as well as an 81-62 edge in digs and an 8-2 edge in service aces.
 
The duo of Sara Macek and Hope Schiller played a major role in the team's win as Macek paced all players with 20 kills and a .400 hitting percentage while Schiller collected the double-double with 16 kills and a match-high 22 digs. The 20-kill outburst was Macek's third match with 20+ on the season as she extended her streak to 10 straight with double figures in kills. Schiller, meanwhile, registered her first career effort with at least 15 kills and at least 20 digs in the win.
 
Brooklyn Lewis added another double-double, the first of her career, as she finished with 10 kills and a career-best 13 digs while Elizabeth Mohr fell one dig short with 62 assists and nine digs. The 13 digs were four more than Lewis' previous career high while Mohr reached 60 assists for the fourth time of the year. Tori Hanson joined Schiller in surpassing 20+ digs as she collected 21 digs while Taylor Soine added 12 of her own as well as two aces. Sydney Book also chipped in 13 kills.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears picked up a pair of road wins in the first weekend of conference play as they claimed a sweep of Minnesota Crookston on Friday and a five-set win over Bemidji State on Saturday.

The Golden Bear offense put up a strong offensive effort on the weekend with a team hitting percentage of .328 while holding their opponents to .200. CSP also held strong advantages of 117-76 in killls, 88-76 in digs and 13-4 in service aces.

Jasmine Mulvihill was once again the top option offensively as she led the team with 3.88 kills per set on a solid .386 hitting percentage while Kennedy Brady hit .471 with 2.71 kills per set. Tori Hanson paced the squad with 3.12 digs per set while Erin Fallert followed with 2.12 digs per set as well as 2.50 kills per set.

IN THE POLLS
Despite a 2-0 start in NSIC league play, the Golden Bears dropped from #6 to #7 in the polls 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 and they have ranked outside the top-5 just six weeks since October 2012. 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 12th in DII-era history at CSP with 1,238 digs, putting her 60 away from moving into the top-10. She isn't the only Golden Bear piling up career statistics as Erin Fallert sits 187 digs shy of 1,000 with 813 and Sara Macek sits 223 kills shy of 1,000 with 777.