ST. PAUL, Minn. - The 13th-ranked and third-seeded Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (22-7) is set to face sixth-seeded Augustana (18-10) in the NSIC Volleyball Tournament quarterfinal at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

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.

AUGIE SERIES HISTORY
Concordia enters Saturday's contest with the Vikings with a record of 27-1 in the all-time series with the Vikings. Augustana's lone win came back in 1988 as CSP has won all 27 meetings since the turn of the century. While the Golden Bears have consistently come out on top against Augie, seven of the last eight 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 two teams have met just once before in the NSIC Tournament, with the Golden Bears claiming a sweep in the 2021 NSIC Tournament quarterfinal in St. Paul.

LAST MEETING VS AUGIE
Back on Oct. 16, the Golden Bears survived a late push from Augustana to claim a four-set win (25-14, 25-21, 26-28, 28-26) at Gangelhoff Center.

Concordia tallied 67 kills and just 17 errors on 164 swings to finish with a .305 hitting percentage while Augie collected 58 kills and 23 errors on 162 attempts to hit .216. Concordia added slim advantages in blocks (7.0-4.0) and in aces (4-2) while Augustana edged CSP 74-73 in digs.
 
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.
 
Sophia Andersen followed close behind with 17 kills and a .289 hitting percentage while Jasmine Mulvihill added 14 kills and a .324 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. Ellie Veldman added 27 assists, four blocks and three kills while Tegan Starkey had 29 assists, six digs and two aces.
 
NSIC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Entering this year, Concordia has gone 26-6 overall in the conference tournament in 12 previous trips. In those previous trips, CSP has reached the title match nine times and has won six titles (2004, 2005, 2006, 2015, 2016 and 2019). The Golden Bears have gone 11-1 in opening round matches as they have advanced to at least the semifinals in all but one season. Back in 2019, CSP pulled out a pair of five-set wins over Winona State and Minnesota Duluth before sweeping St. Cloud State in the title match.

LAST TIME OUT
Over the weekend, the Golden Bears closed out the regular season with a four-set win over UMary on Friday and a sweep of Minot State on Saturday.

On Friday, CSP led in nearly every statistical category as they edged UMary 61-42 in kills, 69-59 in digs and 9-3 in service aces while both teams had 8.0 blocks. CSP also claimed a .230-.175 advantage in hitting percentage on the night.
 
Jasmine Mulvihill and Kennedy Brady combined for 38 of the team's 61 kills in the win as Mulvihill matched her season high with 22 kills and Brady set a new season best with 16 kills. Mulvihill added 11 digs, three blocks and two aces for her eighth double-double of the season while Brady hit .452. Tori Hanson, Emma Schmidt and Ellianna Wiertsema all joined Mulvihill in double figures in digs.
 
On Saturday, Concordia put up a strong performance both offensively and defensively as they finished with a .378 hitting percentage with 43 kills and just nine errors while holding MiSU to .096 with 24 kills and 15 errors in the win. Concordia added a decisive 46-33 edge in digs, a 7-3 edge in aces and a 4.0-3.0 edge in blocks on the night.
 
Sophia Andersen finished as the lone Golden Bear in double figures in kills while Emma Schmidt was only one in double figures in digs. Andersen hit an efficient .385 with 12 kills while Schmidt tallied 12 digs and five kills.
 
IN THE POLLS
For the first time since 2003, Concordia dropped out of the top-10 in the AVCA poll as they fell to #14 two weeks ago. Last week, CSP moved up to #13 after road wins at UMary and Minot State. In total, 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.

Last Wednesday, the second NCAA Regional Rankings were released and CSP moved to the seventh spot. The top eight teams in the region will advance to the NCAA region tournament on December 2-4 or 3-5. Automatic bids are granted to the winners of the MIAA, GAC and NSIC postseason tournaments, with the remaining five spots awarded on an at-large basis. The NCAA Volleyball selection show will be streamed online on Monday, Nov. 22 at 6:30 p.m. (CT) on NCAA.com.

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 rank inside the top-20 in kills per set as Mulvihill sits in seventh with 3.69 kills per set while Andersen sits in 14th with 2.92. Kennedy Brady also ranks near the top in hitting percentage as she ranks eighth at .338 and she also ranks eighth in blocks per set at 1.03.

Tori Hanson ranks fourth in digs per set at 4.54 and `2th in service aces per set at 0.33. Emma Schmidt ranks 10th in aces per set at 0.34 and Mulvihill ranks 16th with 0.32 aces per set while Ellie Veldman ranks ninth in assists per set at 8.08.

ALL-NSIC PICKS
The Golden Bears extended their streak to 19 consecutive seasons with at least four all-conference picks as they have reached that mark every season since 2001. Tori Hanson was named NSIC Libero of the Year while Hanson and Jasmine Mulvihill were named to the First Team. Sophia Andersen and Kennedy Brady were named to the Second Team.

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 a few weeks ago. Hanson currently ranks third in DII-era history at CSP with 2,091 digs, sitting 119 shy of Megan Graham in second, and third in service aces with 154, 11 shy of Jessica Lucia in second.

Sophomore Jasmine Mulvihill is closing in on becoming the 22nd member of the 1,000 kill club at Concordia in just her second season of play. Mulvihill sits 99 kills shy of the mark while her 4.00 career kills per set rank first at CSP.