ST. PAUL, Minn. - The fifth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (17-3, 11-0 NSIC) travels west this weekend as they are set to face Sioux Falls (12-7, 7-4 NSIC) on Friday and 14th-ranked Southwest Minnesota State (15-4, 7-4 NSIC) on Saturday in NSIC play.

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.

SIOUX FALLS SERIES HISTORY
On Friday, the meeting between the Golden Bears and Cougars marks the 17th all-time meeting between the two schools with CSP holding an 11-5 record in the 16 previous meetings. Since Sioux Falls joined the NSIC, Concordia won the first nine contests, including six sweeps, but USF has taken two of the last three meetings. CSP and USF have met five times in Sioux Falls heading into the weekend with Concordia claiming four wins in those five matches.

LAST MEETING VS USF
Back on Oct. 10, 2019, the Golden Bears won their third straight match against a ranked opponent and fifth in a row overall as they defeated #24 Sioux Falls in four sets (23-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-14) at Gangelhoff Center.

The Golden Bears held the Cougars to .174 or below in each of the four matches to finish the match at .118. USF committed 28 errors on their 161 swings while they collected 47 kills on the night. CSP finished the night at .200 as they collected 53 kills on 160 kills with 21 errors in the win. Concordia also held a 6-2 edge in aces while USF finished with 72 digs compared to 69 for CSP.
 
Tori Hanson paced all players with 25 digs in the win to give her 14 straight matches in double figures, including six with 20+. Erin Fallert followed with 15 digs to go along with 12 kills for her 11th double-double on the season.
 
Offensively, Jasmine Mulvihill once again finished as the top producer with 16 kills in addition to eight digs while Sara Macek and Kennedy Brady each reached double digits with 10 kills apiece. Mulvihill and Macek each collected five blocks while Brady followed with four.
 
SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and Mustangs head into the weekend with an extensive history as Concordia has met SMSU more times than any other program on the volleyball court. In the previous 66 meetings, CSP holds an edge of 39-26-1 over Southwest Minnesota State with a 26-9 advantage in NSIC play. Concordia has found similar success both home and away in the series as they have gone 13-9 in Marshall compared to 20-12 in St. Paul. The two teams have been especially familiar with one another in the past few years with 13 meetings since the start of the 2016 season with the Golden Bears going 9-4 during that stretch.

LAST MEETING VS SMSU
In the last meeting back on Oct. 11, 2019, seventh-ranked Concordia grabbed a four-set win (25-23, 22-25, 25-21, 25-22) over ninth-ranked Southwest Minnesota State in the NCAA DII Showcase match at Gangelhoff Center.

The Concordia offense was firing on all cylinders as they hit .309 with massive 64 kills on 152 swings on the night. The Mustangs weren't far behind as they finished at .275 with 57 kills on 138 attempts. The Golden Bears also held a 9.0-5.0 edge in total blocks and a 4-3 edge in aces in the win.
 
A big part of the offensive output came from freshman Jasmine Mulvihill as she followed up a career performance last Saturday with another on Friday with 24 kills and a massive .444 hitting percentage.
 
Erin Fallert also picked up where she left off last weekend as she tallied her fourth consecutive double-double with 15 kills and 12 digs as she hit .317 in the win. Both of Concordia's middles also reached double figures as Kennedy Brady registered 11 kills and a .348 hitting percentage while Sara Macek had 10 kills with a .400 hitting percentage.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears picked up two big wins at home as they knocked off #5 Wayne State on Friday in five sets before defeating Augustana on four.

On Friday, it was a historic night for senior libero Tori Hanson as she matched a career high with 35 digs while becoming the third player in program history to reach 2,000 digs. She joins Mary Slinger (2,349 digs) and Megan Graham (2,214 digs) in that illustrious club. Hanson fell just short of a double-double with eight assists on the night.
 
On Saturday, Emma Schmidt blew past her career high in kills as she finished with a match-best 20 on the day while adding 14 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. She committed just two errors on her 42 attempts to lead the team with a .429 hitting percentage. Tori Hanson wrapped up a massive weekend with 26 digs against the Vikings, bringing her tally to 61 (6.78 per set) over two matches on the weekend.
 
Hanson made it three straight weeks as the NSIC Defensive Player of the Week following her performances on the weekend.
 
IN THE POLLS
The Golden Bears moved to #5 in the poll after a pair of wins over the weekend 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 ninth with 3.53 kills per set while Andersen sits in 14th with 3.09. Kennedy Brady also ranks near the top in hitting percentage as she ranks ninth at .324. Brady also ranks eighth in blocks per set at 1.06.

Tori Hanson ranks third in digs per set at 4.73 and 15th in service aces per set at 0.33. Emma Schmidt adds the eightth-most service aces per set at 0.35 and Ellie Veldman registers in at ninth in assists per set at 9.49.

CLIMBING THE RANKS
After reaching the 1,000 career dig mark late in her sophomore season, senior libero Tori Hanson reached 2,000 in her career this past weekend. Hanson currently ranks third in DII-era history at CSP with 2,041 digs, sitting 173 shy of Megan Graham in second, and third in service aces with 149, 16 shy of Jessica Lucia in second.