ST. PAUL, Minn. - The #3 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (15-2, 8-1 NSIC) remains on the road this weekend as they travel to Bemidji State (3-14, 2-7 NSIC) on Friday and Minnesota Crookston (3-14, 2-7 NSIC) on Saturday for NSIC action.

BEMIDJI STATE SERIES HISTORY
On Friday, the Golden Bears meet the Beavers for the 46th time in program history as Concordia enters with a record of 36-8-1 against BSU. Concordia has held a decisive edge in recent history in the series with 34 consecutive wins dating back to the 2002 season. During that span, all but three of Concordia's wins have been sweeps. In 16 meetings in Bemidji, CSP is 14-2.

LAST MEETING VS BSU
Almost exactly a year ago to the day on Oct. 8, 2021, CSP kicked off Homecoming weekend on a high note as they swept (25-9, 25-15, 25-16) Bemidji State at Gangelhoff Center.

Concordia's defense made life tough for BSU as they held the Beavers to .105 or lower hitting in each of the three sets and -.030 for the match with 19 kills and 22 errors on 99 attempts. The Golden Bears, on the other side, managed to collect 39 kills and 15 errors on 93 attempts for a .258 hitting percentage. CSP also held an 8.0-3.0 advantage in blocks, a 49-36 advantage in digs and an 8-1 advantage in aces.

Tori Hanson and Emma Schmidt each reached double figures in digs as Hanson led all players with 19 to move within 31 digs of 2,000 in her career while also adding two aces and three assists. Schmidt chipped in 10 digs and nine kills along with two aces to fall a kill short of a double-double.
 
Sophia Andersen and Jasmine Mulvihill matched Schmidt for the team lead with nine kills while Teagan Starkey finished with 24 assists, three aces and three digs in the win.
 
MINNESOTA CROOKSTON SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's contest between CSP and Minnesota Crookston marks the 39th meeting between the two programs with Concordia holding a 35-3 edge in the previous meetings. After three straight wins for Minnesota Crookston to begin the series, Concordia has rattled off 35 wins in a row with 32 sweeps dating back to 2000. Minnesota Crookston's last win in the series came back on Oct. 29, 1999 in St. Paul. In 17 meetings all-time in Crookston, CSP has won 16 of them.

LAST MEETING VS UMC
Back on Oct. 9, 2021, the Golden Bears finished off a perfect Homecoming weekend with a sweep (25-13, 25-15, 25-15) of Minnesota Crookston in St. Paul.

CSP dominated the serving battle as they tallied 12 aces compared to three for UMC. The Golden Bears also grabbed a 40-25 edge in digs and a 7.0-1.0 edge in total blocks to aid the effort. Eight different Concordia players picked up at least one ace, led by three from Tori Hanson.
 
The offense came from all over in a balanced CSP attack as four different players registered double figures in kills. Sophia Andersen paced the squad with 13 kills while adding in three digs and two blocks while Kennedy Brady and Emma Schmidt chipped in 11 kills apiece. Brady hit an efficient .667 on 15 attempts while Schmidt finished at .474. Jasmine Mulvihill added 10 kills, four digs, two blocks and two aces in the win.

LAST TIME OUT
On Tuesday night, Concordia made it 22 consecutive sets won as they swept Minnesota State (4-13, 3-6 NSIC) on the road.

For the fourth match in a row, Concordia held their opponent below .100 hitting as Minnesota State put up a mark of .082 with 30 kills and 21 errors on 110 swings while CSP cleared .300 hitting for the seventh straight match at .342 with 46 kills and seven errors on 114 attempts.
 
CSP added a significant edge in blocks at 8.0-2.0 as well as a 51-47 edge in digs in the winning effort while MSU held an 8-5 advantage in service aces on the night.
 
Jasmine Mulvihill collected her sixth double-double of the season as she led the team with 13 kills, 11 digs and an ace while hitting .323. Kennedy Brady was nearly perfect offensively as she tallied nine kills with no errors on 12 swings for a .750 hitting percentage while leading the way with five blocks.
 
Emma Schmidt just missed a double-double with nine kills, nine digs and four blocks in a full stat line while Payton Stier paced all players with 13 digs in the win. Teagan Starkey assisted on 37 of the team's 46 kills to go along with six digs in the match.
 
IN THE POLLS
Following two more wins over the weekend, 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 12.96 assists per set rank first in the country as she, along with Halle Bemmels, has guided the offense to a second-best 15.17 kills per set through 17 matches. Jasmine Mulvihill has been the top option in the high-powered attack as her 4.59 kills per set rank fifth in the nation and first in the NSIC while her 5.21 points per set rank fourth and first, respectively.

Kennedy Brady has been one of the most efficient hitters in the conference early in the year as her .367 hitting percentage ranks 40th in the country and fourth in the league while Katie Mattson isn't far behind at .325, good for eighth in the conference. Ellie Sieling ranks sixth in the conference with 0.40 service aces per set while Emma Schmidt ranks ninth 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 1,211 career kills are good for 13th in program history as she sits 33 kills behind Anna Schlaak in 12th and 70 behind Kelsey Kyro in 11th. Mulvihill's 4.05 career kills per set are 0.30 ahead of Jill Kalvik in second place while her 4.59 kills per set on the season are third-best at Concordia.