ST. PAUL, Minn. - The seventh-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (15-3, 9-0 NSIC) remains at Gangelhoff Center for a crucial NSIC weekend as they host fifth-ranked Wayne State (14-2, 8-1 NSIC) on Friday and Augustana (12-5, 7-2 NSIC) on Saturday.

WATCH ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear NSIC volleyball matches will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, supported by BlueFrame Technology. Visit nsicnetwork.com/cspbears on a laptop or desktop computer, download the NSIC Network app on your mobile device or watch on your supported OTT provider such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Search "NSIC Network" and download the app for the league's full sport and team lineups. NSIC NETWORK FAQ
 
DOWNLOAD THE APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.
 
BUY TICKETS TO HOME GAMES ONLINE
New this year to Golden Bears is online ticketing. Buy tickets in advance and bring your QR code to the gates to skip the line! Friends and families who utilize the pass list will also be utilizing the online ticketing service while all students, faculty & staff will access their free CSP tickets through the service. Fans do not need to create a login, remember a username or password or download an app to purchase tickets, and tickets can still be purchased with cash at the gates. Find out more in the partnership announcement between CSP Athletics and HomeTown Ticketing.

WAYNE STATE SERIES HISTORY
On Friday, the Golden Bears take on the Wildcats for the 49th time in the all-time series as CSP holds a record of 34-14 against WSC heading into the matchup. Since Wayne State won seven of the first eight meetings of the series, Concordia has rattled off 33 wins in the past 39 contests. That stretch included 19 wins in a row for CSP spanning from 2003-2009. In 27 meetings in St. Paul, CSP has gone 18-9 against the Wildcats.

LAST MEETING VS WSC
Back on Nov. 12, 2019, the Golden Bears fell in straight sets (22-25, 19-25, 23-25) in non-conference play to Wayne State at Gangelhoff Center

On the night, the Golden Bears held a 43-41 edge in kills, a 65-62 edge in digs and a 3-2 edge in service aces, but they fell short in the efficiency category as WSC held a .219-.144 edge in hitting percentage and committed 11 fewer hitting errors.
 
Concordia had five different players register double figures in digs, led by 17 from Tori Hanson. Erin Fallert followed with 13 digs to go along with eight kills while Jasmine Mulvihill, Payton Nutter and Makenna Berger each contributed 11 digs apiece. Nutter also chipped in 36 assists for the double-double.
 
Mulvihill once again paced the offense with 14 kills while Sydney Book delivered one of her best performances of the season with 10 kills on just 18 attempts for a .444 hitting percentage.
 
AUGUSTANA SERIES HISTORY
Concordia enters Saturday's contest with the Vikings with a record of 26-1 in the all-time series with the Vikings. Augustana's lone win came back in 1988 as CSP has won all 26 meetings since the turn of the century. While the Golden Bears have consistently come out on top against Augie, six of the last seven meetings have gone more than three sets, with four of which going five sets as Concordia has had to come from behind in all four of those matches. The Golden Bears have won all 12 meetings between the two schools in St. Paul.

LAST MEETING VS AUGIE
In the last meeting back on Oct. 4, 2019, Concordia bounced back from a first set loss to defeat Augustana in four sets (19-25, 25-15, 25-22, 25-17) on the road.

After seeing the Vikings pull away late in the opening set, the Golden took care of business in each of the next three sets to claim the victory. It was a strong defensive effort that made the difference as CSP held a 68-57 advantage in digs while holding Augustana to just .107 hitting. Concordia limited Augie to just 35 kills with 21 errors on 131 swings while collecting 52 kills with 29 errors on 143 swings on the offensive end for a mark of .161.
 
Concordia's 68 digs were spread out fairly evenly as with five different players finished with double-digit digs in the win, led by 15 apiece from Tori Hanson and Erin Fallert. Fallert added a team-best 17 kills with a .357 hitting percentage while Hanson chipped in four assists.
 
Payton Nutter and Jasmine Mulvihill each added a double-doubles of her own as Nutter with a career-best 45 assists to go along with 12 digs while Mulvihill tacked on 13 kills and 12 digs. It was also a career night for Riley Decker as she reached double figures for the first time with 11 digs. Kennedy Brady joined Fallert and Mulvihill in double figures in kills with 11 kills and a team-high five blocks.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears claimed a pair of sweeps on Homecoming weekend as they defeated Bemidji State on Friday and Minnesota Crookston on Saturday.

On Friday, Concordia's defense made life tough for BSU as they held the Beavers to .105 or lower hitting in each of the three sets and -.030 for the match with 19 kills and 22 errors on 99 attempts. Tori Hanson and Emma Schmidt each reached double figures in digs as Hanson led all players with 19 while also adding two aces and three assists. Schmidt chipped in 10 digs and nine kills along with two aces to fall a kill short of a double-double.
 
On Saturday, Concordia's offense cleared .400 hitting for the first time this season as they compiled a mark of .424 with 47 kills and just 11 errors on 85 swings on the night. That mark was the highest for the team since they hit an astonishing .600 against Minot State just over three years ago on Oct. 6, 2018. Eight different Concordia players picked up at least one ace, led by three from Tori Hanson.
 
For the second week in a row, Concordia-St. Paul senior libero Tori Hanson was named the NSIC Defensive Player of the Week. Hanson led the team with 53 digs (5.30 per set) while also matching the team best with five aces (0.50 per set) on the week. She matched her season high with 23 digs on Tuesday before extending her streak to eight straight matches in double figures over the weekend.
 
IN THE POLLS
The Golden Bears dropped to #7 in the poll after a 2-1 week on their home court. Concordia has been a mainstay near the top of the poll for nearly two decades as they haven't ranked outside the top-10 since 2003. The Golden Bears have spent an incredible 84 weeks at #1 since they debuted there in the 2004 preseason poll. Since the 2007 season, CSP has ranked #1 at least once in all but one season.

CONFERENCE LEADERS
So far this season, the Golden Bears have gotten production throughout their lineup as six different players that rank in the top-20 in the league in at least one statistical category this season.

Jasmine Mulvihill and Sophia Andersen both rank inside the top-20 in kills per set as Mulvihill sits in sixth with 3.69 kills per set while Andersen sits in 17th with 2.81. Kennedy Brady also ranks near the top in hitting percentage as she ranks seventh at .344. Brady also ranks eighth in blocks per set at 1.13.

Ellie Veldman registers in at fourth in the conference and 11th in the nation in assists per set at 10.58 while Tori Hanson ranks sixth in digs per set at 4.36. Emma Schmidt adds the 10th-most service aces per set at 0.35.

CLIMBING THE RANKS
After reaching the 1,000 career dig mark late in her sophomore season, senior libero Tori Hanson is now within striking distance of 2,000 in her career at Concordia. Hanson currently ranks third in DII-era history at CSP with 1,980 digs, sitting 234 shy of Megan Graham in second, and third in service aces with 147, 18 shy of Jessica Lucia in second.