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The 23^rd-ranked Northern State volleyball squad begins a four-match road trip this weekend as the Wolves travel to face Minnesota State and No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

The match with the Mavericks (10-12, 5-9 NSIC) begins at 7 p.m. from the Taylor Center in Mankato, Minn. MSU is led by setter Ellie Van De Steeg leads the team and is seventh in the league averaging 10.76 assists per set. Minnesota State is coming off a 1-1 split last weekend as the Mavs lost to Minot State 3-0 and beat Upper Iowa 3-1.

Northern defeated MSU earlier this season at the Maverick Invitational in September, 3-1. That match was not an NSIC match. Outside hitter Kelsey Chambers was named tournament MVP and setter Drew Smith was named to the all-tournament team at the invite.

No. 1 and six-time defending National Champion Concordia-St. Paul heads into the weekend with a 20-match winning streak and is 22-1 overall and a perfect 14-0 in league play. The Golden Bears are stacked across the board, but are led by Kayla Koenecke who is the NSIC leader in hitting percentage at .416 this season. Koenecke is also fourth in the conference at 3.91 kills per set. Setter Amanda Konetchy leads the league averaging 13.3 assists per set.

NSU is looking for its first victory over Concordia since 2002. The Golden Bears have won the last 22 matches in the series. Saturday's match is set for a 4 p.m. start.

Northern comes into the weekend riding an eight-match win streak and are 18-3 overall and 11-3 in NSIC play. Chambers is just 37 kills away from cracking the all-time top-20 list for career kills at Northern.

Chambers is second in the NSIC in kills averaging 4.32 per set. Freshman Tori Biach is fourth in the league for the Wolves with a .347 attack percentage. Sami Nygaard is third in digs per set (4.72) in the conference and Drew Smith is fifth in the league averaging 11.77 assists per set.