Live Stats (Concordia)
Live Stats (Mankato)
Live Video (both matches)
MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead volleyball team begins a stretch of four consecutive matches on the road with matches at No. 1-ranked Concordia-St. Paul on Friday (7 p.m. first serve) and at Minnesota State, Mankato on Saturday (4 p.m. first serve).

MSUM enters the week 14-8 overall and 7-7 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Dragons are tied for seventh in the league with Minnesota Crookston; the top eight teams in the league qualify for the conference tournament.

The Dragons will meet Concordia-St. Paul for a 29th time with the Golden Bears leading the series 22-6.  MSUM will meet Minnesota State for a 31st time with the Mavericks holding a 20-10 series lead. MSUM lost to both teams on the road a year ago.

MSUM has won three of four matches, including home sweeps of Upper Iowa and Winona State last Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Sophomore Kaitlin VanWinkle leads MSUM with 241 kills, while junior Maggie Gruber has 207 and junior Annie Palmquist 187. Junior Sam Sullivan has 506 set assists while sophomore Casie Baer has 345 for the Dragons, who are hitting .194 as a team. On defense, sophomore Amber Krenske has 270 digs while freshman Katie Meyers has 266 and sophomore Morgan Gradishar has 265. VanWinkle has 100 blocks, an average of 1.2 per set.  Tammy Blake is in her 19th season as MSUM's head coach with a record of 328-247 at the school.

About Concordia-St. Paul
No. 1-ranked Concordia-St. Paul, the six-time NCAA Division II National Champion, is 22-1 overall and 14-0 in the NSIC. The Golden Bears have won 20 matches in a row, including a four-set win over Minot State last Friday and a sweep of Mary on Saturday. Concordia is led by senior hitter Kayla Koenecke, who has 289 kills and his hitting .423 on the season. Sophomore Emily McDonough has 243 kills. Senior setter Amanda Konetchy has 775 set assists for the Golden Bears, who are hitting an impressive .339 as a team. On defense, sophomore Taylor Dordan has 320 digs while sophomore Heather Schiller has 77 blocks. Brady Starkey is in his 11th season as Concordia's head coach with a record of 361-31 at the school.

About Minnesota State, Mankato
Minnesota State is 9-12 overall and 5-9 in the NSIC.  Minnesota State will face Upper Iowa and Northern State before facing MSUM. The Mavericks split on the road last weekend, beating Mary in four sets before being swept at Minot State. Sophomore Chandra Honebrink leads the Mavericks with 201 kills while junior Tiana Runck has 176. Sophomore Ellie Van De Steeg has 791 set assists for Minnesota State, which is hitting .203 as a team. On defense, freshman Haley Fogarty has 273 digs while freshman Krista Hassing has 34 blocks. Dennis Amundson is in his ninth season as Mankato's head coach with a record of 161-106.

Last Week's MSUM Highlights
Brianna Atkins (OH, 5-10, Fr., Rochester, Minn./ John Marshall HS) had a strong week from her right-side hitting spot for MSUM in helping the Dragons to a 2-1 week. Atkins finished the week with 25 kills in three matches, averaging 2.78 kills per set. She hit a stellar .477 for the week with only four errors in 44 attack attempts. She had nine kills and hit .667 in a sweep of Upper Iowa on Friday. She also added six digs and five block assists.

Sam Sullivan (S, 5-11, Jr., Woodbury, Minn. / Woodbury HS) as part of MSUM's two-setter attack, finished the week with 49 set assists to help the Dragons to a 2-1 week. She averaged 5.44 assists per set. She had 17 assists each in wins over Upper Iowa and Winona State on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Sullivan also had 18 digs on the week. She leads MSUM with 506 set assists on the season.

Amber Krenske's (L/DS, 5-7, So., Faribault, Minn. / Faribault HS) back row defense helped the Dragons to a 2-1 week. She averaged 4.67 digs per set for the week, including 5.92 in a sweep of Winona State on Saturday. Krenske had 42 digs for the week had had double-digit digs in all three matches.  Krenske leads MSUM with 270 digs and a 5.09 digs per set average.