ST. PAUL, Minn. - The fourth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (6-2, 0-0 NSIC) returns to Gangelhoff Center for competitive volleyball for the first time since 2019 as they host Minot State (0-5, 0-0 NSIC) on Friday and UMary (2-6, 0-0 NSIC) on Saturday in the NSIC opening weekend.

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.

MINOT STATE SERIES HISTORY
Friday marks the 11th meeting in the all-time series with Minot State as the Golden Bears have won the first 10 meetings. All 10 previous meetings have come since Minot State joined the NSIC with CSP claiming sweeps in eight of the 10. The Beavers claimed their two set wins in 2013 and 2019.

LAST MEETING VS MINOT
Back on Oct. 18, 2019, CSP claimed a four-set victory at Minot State.

Concordia's offense proved to be effective in the sets they won as they hit .324 or better in the first, second and fourth sets while being held to .146 in the third. Overall, the team finished at .280 (61-14-168) while the Beavers finished the match at .196 (44-15-148). Concordia also won the serving battle with eight aces compared to two for Minot State while they also won the blocking battle with 7.0 blocks compared to 1.0 for MiSU.

The duo of Erin Fallert and Sara Macek combined for nearly half of the team's kills as Fallert led the team with 16 kills and Macek added 14 of her own. Fallert hit a solid .378 to go along with 10 digs while Macek was even more efficient with a mark of .483. Jasmine Mulvihill also filled the box score with 13 kills, nine digs, three blocks and two aces on the night.

Shelby Spuller led the way with 15 kills for the Beavers while setter Mackenzie Froehlich contributed a double-double with 31 assists and 11 digs.

UMARY SERIES HISTORY
Heading into Saturday, the Golden Bears have gone a perfect 20-0 in the all-time series against the Marauders. Concordia has dominated the series as they have swept 18 of the 20 meetings overall. Prior to a four-setter in St. Paul in 2017, the only meeting that didn't end in a sweep was a five-set win for CSP in Bismarck on Sept. 28, 2007.

LAST MEETING VS UMARY
In the meeting on Oct. 19, 2019, the Golden Bears cruised to a sweep of UMary as they held the Marauders to 16 points or less in all three sets.

It was an all-around impressive showing for CSP as they held a massive 50-28 edge in kills while tallying hitting percentages of .310 or better in each set to finish the day at .390, marking a season-best in that category. The previous best for the Golden Bears this season was a .349 mark against Valdosta State back on Sept. 7. Concordia was especially solid in each of the final two sets as they picked up 18 kills in the second before registering 19 in the third.
 
The Golden Bear defense also held the Marauders to .235 or below in all three sets as they finished at .165. CSP also collected a 53-42 edge in digs to go along with an 8-0 edge in service aces.
 
Concordia had three different hitters register at least 11 kills while hitting .333 or above as the trio led the way offensively. Jasmine Mulvihill contributed a match-best 15 kills and a .448 hitting percentage while adding seven digs, two aces and two blocks in the win. Erin Fallert added a double-double with 13 kills and 11 digs while Katie Mattson put up a career-high 11 kills as well.
 
Fallert was joined in double figures in digs with Payton Nutter and Tori Hanson as both finished with 12 apiece. Nutter also contributed 40 assists while Hanson added three aces.

LAST TIME OUT
Over the weekend, Concordia grabbed a pair of wins in pool play of the Colorado Premier Challenge on Friday before dropping the semifinal and third place matches in the Gold Bracket on Saturday.

After dropping the first set of the tournament to #25 Rockhurst, the Golden Bears claimed the final three sets before cruising to a sweep of #6 CSU San Bernandino in the second match of the day. CSP ran into a red hot #20 MSU Denver in the semifinals as the Roadrunners took all three sets. In the third place match, it was a battle of #1 vs #2 as Angelo State grabbed a 3-0 victory.
 
Emma Schmidt had a big weekend for Concordia as she paced the squad with 3.00 kills per set and 0.62 service aces per set to go along with 3.00 digs per set and 0.54 blocks per set. Schmidt tallied 11 kills, 18 digs and four aces against Rockhurst before contributing 10 kills, 12 digs and three aces against CSU San Bernardino. Jasmine Mulvihill added 2.77 kills per set to go along with 1.62 digs per set on the weekend.
 
Defensively, Tori Hanson led the way with 4.08 digs per set, reaching double figures in all four matches. Kennedy Brady paced the squad with 1.23 blocks per set over the four matches.

IN THE POLLS
After spending last week at #1 in the polls, the Golden Bears dropped to #4 after a 2-2 weekend at the Colorado Premier Challenge. 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. 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
Heading into the conference season, the Golden Bears have gotten production from throughout their lineup as seven different players that rank in the top-20 in the league in at least one statistical category this season.

Jasmine Mulvihill is one of three Concordia setters to rank inside the top-20 in kills per set as she sits in seventh with 3.42 kills per set while Emma Schmidt sits in 17th at 2.92 and Sophia Andersen sits in 18th at 2.91. CSP also has three players ranked near the top in hitting percentage as Kennedy Brady leads the way in 12th at .315 while Katie Mattson's mark of .289 ranks 16th and Andersen ranks 19th at .283.

Mattson and Brady also rank near the top in blocks per set as Mattson holds the seventh spot at 1.13 and Brady holds the eighth spot at 1.12. Ellie Veldman registers in at fifth in assists per set at 10.72 while Tori Hanson ranks 10th in digs per set at 4.04. Schmidt (11th with 0.38) and Hanson (16th with 0.35) also rank in the top-20 in service aces per set. 

CLIMBING THE RANKS
After reaching the 1,000 career dig mark late in her sophomore season, junior libero Tori Hanson has moved her way up in the career record book at Concordia. Hanson currently ranks fourth in DII-era history at CSP with 1,710 digs, sitting 77 shy of Jessica Lucia in third, and ninth in service aces with 126, one shy of Elizabeth Mohr and Kayla Koenecke in a tie for seventh.