ST. PAUL, Minn. - The #3 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (17-2, 10-1 NSIC) returns to Gangelhoff Center for a pair of top-10 showdowns as they host #6 St. Cloud State (18-3, 8-3 NSIC) on Friday and #5 Minnesota Duluth (18-1, 10-1 NSIC) on Saturday in NSIC action.

ROAST THE DOGS
Saturday's meeting with Minnesota Duluth marks the annual Roast the Dogs night. The first 100 students receive a free Roast the Dogs t-shirt and the 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.

BUY TICKETS TO HOME GAMES ONLINE
Fans are encouraged to 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.
 
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.

ST. CLOUD STATE STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears have dominated the all-time series with the Huskies as they have claimed 30 wins in 32 previous meetings. CSP had claimed 27 consecutive wins heading into the 2019 meeting in St. Cloud before the Huskies pulled off a wild comeback to grab a five-set victory. Concordia got their revenge two weeks later as the Golden Bears knocked off SCSU in the NSIC title match before taking both matches in 2021. In 12 meetings in St. Paul, CSP has gone a perfect 12-0.

LAST MEETING VS SCSU
Back on Dec. 2, 2021, seventh-seeded Concordia defeated second-seeded St. Cloud State in the opening round of the 201 NCAA Central Region Volleyball Tournament at Central Missouri.

Redshirt freshman right side Emma Schmidt led the Golden Bears with 19 kills, 10 digs and three aces while hitting .359 for the match. She was one kill shy of her season-high while recording her eighth kills-digs double-double.

Senior libero Tori Hanson, the NSIC Libero of the Year, led the team with 14 digs in a group that included four reaching double-figures. The back line kept the Huskies off balance to a .152 hitting percentage and 43 kills while the defense at the net produced nine total blocks (two solo) led by sophomore Katie Mattson's five.

Freshman setter Teagan Starkey paced the offense with 26 assists while junior Ellie Veldman added 20. The setter duo teamed up to lead an attack that hit .302 for the match with 60 kills in four sets, spreading the ball around as five different players had at least six kills and three reached double-figures.
 
MINNESOTA DULUTH SERIES HISTORY
CSP enters Saturday's meeting with a record of 29-30 in the all-time series with UMD, including a record of 14-15 at home. Concordia has had much more success recently in the series as they have claimed 24 wins in the last 33 meetings. Over the past 13 meetings, just three matches have gone three sets with six going all five sets.

LAST MEETING VS UMD
Back on Oct. 2, 2021, the then-#4 Golden Bears rebounded from a 1-0 deficit and a 2-1 deficit to make it seven wins in a row with a five-set road victory (23-25, 25-19, 17-25, 25-21, 15-9) at then-#22 Minnesota Duluth.

For the second time in as many nights, the Golden Bears set a new season high with 15.0 total blocks as a team, marking their best total since collecting 16.0 against SMSU all the way back on Sept. 14, 2019. Kennedy Brady played a major role in the block party as she matched her career high with nine blocks, the same total she collected in the Sept. 14, 2019 meeting with SMSU, while also tallying 11 kills to put her one block shy of a double-double. Jasmine Mulvihill chipped in six blocks of her own to go along with five digs, two aces and a team-best 12 kills. Sophia Andersen joined the pair in double figures in kills with 11.
 
Tori Hanson led all players with 22 digs to give her a whopping 45 on the weekend. Emma Schmidt added 13 digs as well as six kills and four blocks in the win. Ellie Veldman finished with 36 assists, seven digs and a pair of blocks on the day.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears extended their winning streak to 10 with sweeps of Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston.

CSP matched their longest winning streak since winning 13 straight from Oct. 13-Nov. 18, 2017 while their streak of nine straight sweeps is their most since sweeping 13 in a row from Sept. 29-Nov. 6, 2012. The Golden Bears also made it 36 consecutive wins, with 34 coming via the sweep, against UMC as they improved to 36-3 in the all-time series.

On Friday, The Golden Bears controlled play from the serving line as they set a new program record in a three-set match and matched the overall school record with 16 aces in the win. The only two previous times that Concordia reached the mark came all the way back in 2002, prior to the switch to the 25-point scoring format. CSP had at least four aces in all three sets, including a staggering eight in the second set.

On Saturday, Concordia's offense continued to terminate at a high clip as their .479 hitting percentage was their second-best mark of the season and fourth mark above .400 in the past five matches. Through 11 conference matches, CSP's mark of .335 leads the league by .058 over St. Cloud State's .277. The Golden Bears also set a season high in kills in a three-set match as they collected 54 in the match, registering at least 16 in each set.
 
IN THE POLLS
Following three more wins last week, the Golden Bears remained at #3 in the latest poll. Concordia has been a mainstay near the top of the poll for over a decade as they did rank outside the top-10 for a single week from 2003 to 2021. 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 in every season except 2019.

STAT LEADERS
So far this season, the Golden Bears rank near the top of the nation in several statistical categories.

Teagan Starkey's 13.06 assists per set rank first in the country as she, along with Halle Bemmels, has guided the offense to a nation-leading 15.27 kills per set and .302 hitting percentage through 19 matches. Jasmine Mulvihill has been the top option in the high-powered attack as her 4.55 kills per set rank fifth in the nation and first in the NSIC while her 5.19 points per set also rank fifth and first, respectively.

Kennedy Brady has been one of the most efficient hitters in the conference early in the year as her .371 hitting percentage ranks 38th in the country and fourth in the league while Katie Mattson isn't far behind at .345, good for 63rd in the nation and fifth in the conference. Ellie Sieling ranks second in the conference with 0.46 service aces per set while Emma Schmidt ranks eighth with 0.38 per set.

ALL-TIME RANKS
After surpassing 1,000 career kills in the opening weekend of the season, Jasmine Mulvihill has continues to climb the ranks at CSP. Her 1,236 career kills are good for 13th in program history as she sits eight kills behind Anna Schlaak in 12th and 45 behind Kelsey Kyro in 11th. Mulvihill's 4.08 career kills per set are 0.33 ahead of Jill Kalvik in second place while her 4.55 kills per set on the season are third-best at Concordia.