ST. PAUL, Minn. – The sixth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (4-0) are set for a big weekend in non-conference play as they travel to Denver, Colo. for the Colorado Premier Challenge on Friday and Saturday. CSP opens up play with #18 Lewis at 3:30 p.m. and Western Washington at 7 p.m.
 
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.
 
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
The Golden Bears head back to Denver for their annual trip to the Colorado Premier Challenge. The tourney is co-hosted by MSU Denver and Regis, with both campuses hosting matches throughout the weekend. CSP is set to play both of their matches at MSU Denver on Friday as they face #18 Lewis and #3 Western Washington at Auroria Event Center. Concordia will then be placed into one of three brackets on Saturday with match times and locations to be determined.
 
Live stats and live video will be available for all matches.
 
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Concordia enters the weekend as seven-time championships of the Colorado Premier Challenge as they have taken home the top spot in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2016, 2018 and 2019.
 
Last season, 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 Bernardino 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.
 
LAST TIME OUT
In the season's opening weekend, the Golden Bears picked up four wins in the Concordia-St. Paul Volleyball Tournament as they picked up sweeps of Ashland, Seattle Pacific and Oklahoma Baptist before storming back for a five-set win over Drury.
 
With her 12th kill of the match against Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday, junior Jasmine Mulvihill became the 22nd player in program history to reach 1,000 kills in her career. She was the first Golden Bear since Brooklyn Lewis in 2018 to reach the mark. Her efforts earned her AVCA Division II Player of the Week honors and NSIC Offensive Player of the Week honors as Teagan Starkey was named the NSIC Setter of the Week.
 
For the second year in a row and for the 10th time under head coach Brady Starkey, CSP has opened the season with four consecutive victories.
 
The Golden Bears had three players named to the All-Tournament Team as Jasmine Mulvihill, Teagan Starkey and Emma Schmidt all earned the honor. Mulvihill led the way with a massive 5.07 kills per set (71 total kills) while hitting .329 on her 155 attempts in addition to 0.57 blocks per set (eight total blocks). Starkey broke her career high in assists in each of the final three matches of the weekend as she compiled 13.43 assists per set (188 total assists) as well as 2.07 digs per set (29 total digs). Schmidt put up a well-rounded stat line with 2.79 kills per set, 2.57 digs per set, 0.50 aces per set and 0.43 blocks per set while hitting .354 and putting up a .950 receive percentage.
 
IN THE POLLS
After their 4-0 starts, the Golden Bears maintained their spot as #6 in the nation in the latest AVCA 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 all but one season.
 
THE MATCHUPS
The Golden Bears are set to meet Lewis for the sixth time in program history as CSP has gone 5-0, winning 15 of 17 sets in previous matchups. Three of five meetings have come at the Colorado Premier Challenge, including the last meeting back on Sept. 8, 2017, while CSP swept Lewis in the 2016 national semifinal en route to their eighth national title.
 
Concordia and Western Washington have met four previous times with the Golden Bears going 4-0, taking all but one of the 13 sets between the two schools. The last meeting came back on Sept. 1, 2017 with CSP taking all three sets in Lakeland, Fla.