ST. PAUL, Minn. - The #3 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (10-2, 3-1 NSIC) is back on the road this weekend as they travel to Northern State (7-5, 2-2 NSIC) on Friday and MSU Moorhead (5-7, 2-2 NSIC) on Saturday in NSIC action.

NORTHERN STATE SERIES HISTORY
Friday's meeting between the Golden Bears and the Wolves marks the 46th time the two schools have met as CSP holds a record of 35-10 in the previous 45 meetings. The Golden Bears have dominated the series since 2003 as Concordia has won 33 of the past 36 meetings. All three of those wins for NSU during that stretch have come since 2015 with a four-setter in 2015, a five-setter in 2018 and a sweep last season. In 18 meetings in Aberdeen, CSP has gone 12-6.

LAST MEETING VS NSU
Back on Nov. 5, 2021, CSP was swept (12-25, 24-26, 20-25) by Northern State at Gangelhoff Center.

Northern State's block made things tough for CSP with 10.0 blocks while holding the Golden Bears to .100 hitting on the night. The Wolves, on the other end, hit .298 while also tallying a 44-41 dig advantage and a 5-2 ace advantage in the win.
 
Jasmine Mulvihill provided a bright spot for Concordia with 12 kills and six digs on the night while Payton Stier paced the squad with 12 digs and Ellianna Wiertsema added 11. Kennedy Brady and Emma Schmidt each chipped in eight kills while Brady had three blocks, including two solo blocks.
 
MSU MOORHEAD SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears enter Saturday's meeting with the Dragons with a record of 33-8 in 41 previous meetings as CSP has controlled the series in recent history. Since 2001, Concordia has picked up 33 wins in the last 34, including 18 in a row since 2008. During that winning streak, the Golden Bears have only dropped three sets as they have collected sweeps in 15 of those contests. In 18 all-time meetings in Moorhead, Concordia has gone 15-3.

LAST MEETING VS MSUM
Back on Nov. 6, 2021, CSP closed out their home slate with a sweep (25-18, 25-23, 25-19) of MSU Moorhead at Gangelhoff Center.

Concordia's 47 kills were spread evenly as four different players registered in double figures on the night. Emma Schmidt fill the stat sheet with 11 kills and a .556 hitting percentage while adding 11 digs and four aces to collect her seventh double-double on the year. Jasmine Mulvihilll added a double-double of her own, also her seventh, with a team-best 12 kills as well as 10 digs and a pair of aces in the win.
 
Kennedy Brady chipped in 11 kills, three aces, two blocks and two digs while Sophia Andersen finished with 10 kills and three digs. Teagan Starkey and Ellie Veldman split setting duties with 23 assists for Starkey and 19 for Veldman.
 
CSP also had four in double figures in digs as Ellianna Wiertsema and Payton Stier joined Schmidt and Mulvihill. Wiertsema led all players with 17 digs while Stier chipped in 11.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears grabbed a pair of sweeps on their home court as they knocked off USF on Friday and SMSU on Saturday.

On Friday, 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.

In Saturday's win, 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. Jasmine Mulvihill paced the squad with 13 kills while she added six digs and four blocks.

With a strong performance on the weekend, Concordia became the first NSIC school in nearly eight years to sweep NSIC Player of the Week honors as Jasmine Mulvihill was named Offensive Player of the Week, Katie Mattson was named Defensive Player of the Week and Halle Bemmels was named Setter of the Week. This marks the second time this season and fifth time in her career that Mulvihill earned the honor while Mattson and Bemmels each earned their first career selection.
 
IN THE POLLS
Following a pair of sweeps on their home court, the Golden Bears moved up to #3 in the latest poll after spending last week at #5. 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.

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

Teagan Starkey's 12.76 assists per set rank first in the country as she, along with Halle Bemmels, has guided the offense to a nation-leading 15.19 kills per set through 12 matches. Jasmine Mulvihill has been the top option in the high-powered attack as her 4.49 kills per set rank 11th in the nation and second in the NSIC while her 5.12 points per set rank 10th and second, respectively.

Kennedy Brady has been one of the most efficient hitters in the conference early in the year as her .347 hitting percentage ranks 73rd in the country and eighth in the league. CSP has a pair of players inside the top-10 in service aces as Ellie Sieling ranks fifth with 19 aces while Emma Schmidt ranks 10th with 16. Sieling also ranks 12th with 149 digs while Schmidt ranks 13th with 147. Katie Mattson leads the way for the squad with 0.95 blocks per set, good for 10th in the NSIC.

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 1,147 career kills are good for 16th in program history as she sits 15 kills behind Megan Carlson in 15th and 34 behind assistant coach Whitney Meierotto-Simon in 14th. Mulvihill's 4.04 career kills per set are 0.29 ahead of Jill Kalvik in second place while her 4.49 kills per set on the season are third-best at Concordia.