ST. PAUL, Minn. - The #3 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (23-3, 16-2 NSIC) closes out the regular season at home this weekend as they host Augustana (18-8, 10-8 NSIC) on Friday and #2 Wayne State (27-1, 17-1 NSIC) on Saturday.

SENIOR NIGHT
Concordia's three seniors, Riley Decker, Evie Harrington and Kennedy Brady will all be honored with a video message prior to Friday night's match against Augustana.

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.

POSTSEASON PICTURE
The Golden Bears head into the final weekend of the regular season in second place in the NSIC as they sit one game behind Wayne State in first and one game ahead of Minnesota Duluth in third. Two wins on the weekend would guarantee at least a share of the NSIC regular season crown while CSP can finish no lower than third. The top eight teams advance to the NSIC Tournament set to be played at Gangelhoff Center on Nov. 11-13.

AUGUSTANA SERIES HISTORY
Concordia enters Friday's contest with the Vikings with a record of 28-2 in the all-time series with the Vikings. Augustana's first win came back in 1988 as CSP won the next 27 meetings before Augie claimed their second win in the NSIC Tournament last season. While the Golden Bears have consistently come out on top against Augie, nine of the last 10 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 Golden Bears have won all 13 meetings between the two schools in St. Paul.

LAST MEETING VS AUGIE
Back on Sept. 10, the Golden Bears picked up their first NSIC win of 2022 with a four-set victory (25-15, 26-24, 17-25, 25-22) over then-#24 Augustana.

Concordia was forced to grind out the victory as both teams finished below .200 hitting with CSP at .174 and AU at .143. The Vikings held a slight edge in kills at 53-51 and in aces at 6-5, but the Golden Bears finished with fewer miscues as Augie had 30 hitting errors to CSP's 24 and six service errors to CSP's three.
 
Three different CSP players registered at least 16 digs on the night as Emma Schmidt led the way with 19 digs while falling a kill short of a double-double with nine. Ellie Sieling followed with 17 digs while Payton Stier chipped in 16. The team finished with a season-best 68 digs in the win.
 
In her first career start, Halle Bemmels was solid conducting the offense as she finished with a career-best 43 assists to go along with seven digs, two aces and two blocks in the win. Three hitters reached double figures as Jasmine Mulvihill filled the box score with 13 kills, six blocks and six digs while Katie Mattson and Sophia Andersen had 11 kills apiece. Mattson added six blocks of her own while Kennedy Brady finished with four.

WAYNE STATE SERIES HISTORY
On Saturday, the Golden Bears take on the Wildcats for the 52nd time in the all-time series as CSP holds a record of 35-16 against WSC heading into the matchup. Since Wayne State won seven of the first eight meetings of the series, Concordia has rattled off 34 wins in the past 42 contests. That stretch included 19 wins in a row for CSP spanning from 2003-2009. In 28 meetings in St. Paul, CSP has gone 19-9 against the Wildcats.

LAST MEETING VS WSC
In the conference opener back on Sept.9, CSP was swept (24-26, 23-25, 16-25) by Wayne State on the road.

Concordia finished the match with a comfortable 49-42 edge in kills in the match, but Wayne State won the efficiency battle with just five hitting errors compared to 23 for the Golden Bears. The result was a .359-.215 edge as the Wildcats cleared .300 as a team for the second match in a row against CSP. Aiding the effort for WSC was a 9.0-2.0 advantage in blocks while Concordia collected 51 digs compared to 44 for Wayne State.
 
CSP's attack couldn't have been much more evenly spread out as four different players registered exactly 10 kills while Jasmine Mulvihill followed close behind with eight. Katie Mattson turned her 17 swings into 10 kills as she hit a team-best .529 while Emma Schmidt and Kennedy Brady had identical 10-3-20 lines to finish at .350. Sophia Andersen joined the trio with 10 kills on 26 attempts.
 
Teagan Starkey collected her third double-double of the season with 30 assists and 11 digs while Ellie Sieling paced the squad with 12 digs.

LAST TIME OUT
Over the weekend, Concordia pulled out a five-set victory at then-#5 Southwest Minnesota State before falling to Sioux Falls in five.

On Friday, CSP won the efficiency battle as they hit .298 compared to .162 for SMSU. Blocks played a major role in that difference as Concordia's 15.0 blocks matched their highest mark since Sept. 14, 2019, also against the Mustangs. The Golden Bears added a 62-57 edge in digs while Southwest Minnesota State collected a 10-3 advantage in service aces.
 
On Saturday, the Golden Bears saw their 16 match unbeaten run snapped. Concordia had a pair of hitters register career-highs in kills as Emma Schmidt tallied her fourth double-double in the past five matches with 21 kills and 13 digs while Katie Mattson filled the box score with 17 kills, five blocks, three digs and a .481 hitting percentage. Jasmine Mulvihill joined them in double figures with 11 kills to go along with six digs, two blocks and two aces. Teagan Starkey reached 50 assists for the eighth time on the year, putting up 56 assists, 12 digs and two aces for her fifth double-double on the season. Ellie Sieling gave CSP three in double digits in digs with 10 while Sophia Andersen matched Mattson for the team lead with five blocks to go along with eight kills and four digs.
 
IN THE POLLS
Following a 2-1 week, the Golden Bears dropped back to #3 in the AVCA Coaches Poll after spending the previous week at #2. 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 12.61 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 4.12 kills per set rank 16th in the nation and first in the NSIC while her 4.88 points per set rank 11th and first, respectively.

Kennedy Brady has been one of the most efficient hitters in the conference this year as her .377 hitting percentage ranks 27th in the country and third in the league while Katie Mattson isn't far behind at .362, good for fifth in the conference. Mattson also ranks ninth with 0.98 blocks per set while Brady ranks 14th with 0.86. CSP has two of the top-five in aces per set in the league with Mulvihill at third with 0.41 per set while Emma Schmidt ranks fifth with 0.40 per set. Ellie Sieling also ranks 10th in digs per set at 3.38.

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 1,325 career kills are tied for 10th in program history as she is even with Cassie Haag and sits six behind Valerie Olson in ninth. Mulvihill's 4.00 career kills per set are 0.25 ahead of Jill Kalvik in second place while her 4.12 kills per set on the season are eighth-best at Concordia.