ST. PAUL, Minn. - The #2 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (22-2, 15-1 NSIC) is set for the final road weekend of the regular season as they travel to #5 Southwest Minnesota State (20-4, 12-4 NSIC) on Friday and Sioux Falls (14-9, 10-6 NSIC) on Saturday.

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 68 meetings, CSP holds an edge of 40-27-1 over Southwest Minnesota State with a 27-10 advantage in NSIC play. Concordia holds a record of 13-10 in 23 trips to Marshall.

LAST MEETING VS SMSU
Back on Sept. 17, CSP put together a strong display on their home court as they swept (25-18, 25-10, 25-22) Southwest Minnesota State.

Concordia's servers had SMSU on their heels throughout the match as they finished with a 6-1 advantage in service aces while consistently pushing the Mustangs out of system. CSP held Southwest Minnesota State to just .113 hitting while the Golden Bears hit .314 with 42 kills and just nine errors in the win. CSP's blockers also made things tough for Southwest Minnesota State as they tallied a 12.0-3.0 edge in blocks.
 
Katie Mattson had a hand in three-quarters of the team's blocks as she registered a career-high nine blocks (two solo and seven block assists) while she hit .500 with seven kills on the day.
 
Halle Bemmels collected her first career double-double in the win as she put up 35 assists to go along with a career-best 11 digs in the victory. She was one of three players in double digits in digs as Ellie Sieling finished with 14 digs and three aces while Emma Schmidt had 10 as well as six kills and three blocks.

SIOUX FALLS SERIES HISTORY
On Saturday, the meeting between the Golden Bears and Cougars marks the 19th all-time meeting between the two schools with CSP holding an 13-5 record in the 18 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 five meetings. CSP and USF have met six times in Sioux Falls with the Golden Bears going 5-1 in those meetings.

LAST MEETING VS USF
Back on Sept. 16, the Golden Bears swept (25-21, 28-26, 25-17) Sioux Falls in CSP's conference home opener at Gangelhoff Center.

Concordia won the serving battle and the battle at the net as they finished with a 9-4 edge in aces while committing just three service errors compared to five for USF to go along with an 11.0-4.0 advantage in blocks in the win.
 
It was a career night for Halle Bemmels as she contributed a career-high 47 assists (15.67 per set) while matching her career-bests with seven digs and two aces. Jasmine Mulvihill led the way in the attack as she needed just 33 swings to collect 18 kills (6.00 per set) to finish with a .455 hitting percentage. She added eight digs and an ace in the win.
 
Emma Schmidt joined Mulvihill in double figures in kills with 13 on 28 swings for a .429 hitting percentage while she picked up eight digs of her own. Ellie Sieling paced all players with 15 digs while Katie Mattson had a match-best five blocks on the night.

LAST TIME OUT
On Tuesday night, Concordia won their 15th straight match with a sweep (25-17, 25-16, 25-20) of Minnesota State at Gangelhoff Center.

For the 12th time in the past 14 matches, Concordia's offense cleared .300 hitting as they finished at .337 with 46 kills and 12 errors on 101 attempts. With the effort, the Golden Bears moved to a nation-leading .305 on the team, including a mark of .330 in NSIC play. CSP also held MSU to .105 hitting with 29 kills and 19 errors on 114 attempts.
 
Leading the way in the digs category was freshman Ellie Sieling, who finished with 17 digs and an ace on the night, marking her fifth straight match in double figures and third straight with at least 17. She was joined in double figures with Emma Schmidt, who finished with 13 digs, eight kills, three aces and two blocks, as well as Jasmine Mulvihill with a team-best 13 kills, 10 digs, three aces and three blocks. Mulvihill's double-double was her eighth of the season.
 
Sophia Andersen fell one kill shy of Mulvihill's mark with 12 while hitting an efficient .440 with three digs on the night. Kennedy Brady was even more efficient as she needed just 10 swings to collect eight kills as she hit .700 in the win while also picking up three blocks. Teagan Starkey added 41 assists, four digs and a solo block in the win.
 
IN THE POLLS
Following their two wins last weekend, the Golden Bears moved up to #2 in the latest poll after spending the last five weeks at #3. 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 12.90 assists per set rank first in the country as she, along with Halle Bemmels, has guided the offense to a nation-leading .305 hitting percentage and a second-best 14.96 kills per set through 24 matches. Jasmine Mulvihill has been the top option in the high-powered attack as her 4.34 kills per set rank 11th in the nation and first in the NSIC while her 5.12 points per set rank fifth and first, respectively.

Kennedy Brady has been one of the most efficient hitters in the conference this year as her .384 hitting percentage ranks 19th in the country and third in the league while Katie Mattson isn't far behind at .351, good for fifth in the conference. Mattson also ranks 10th with 0.96 blocks per set while Brady ranks 14th with 0.86. CSP has four of the top-seven in aces per set in the conference as Emma Schmidt ranks third with 0.44, Mulvihill ranks fourth with 0.42, Payton Stier ranks sixth with 0.40 and Ellie Sieling ranks seventh with 0.40.

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 1,336 career kills are good for ninth in program history as she sits 93 kills behind Marla Garbers in eighth. Mulvihill's 4.05 career kills per set are 0.30 ahead of Jill Kalvik in second place while her 4.34 kills per set on the season are fifth-best at Concordia.