Error in Decision Node "Cannot compare incompatible operands of type Null and type Number (Integer)."

I have two tables, Volunteer Requests and Speakers.  The Volunteer Request table collects requests from a website through an API to become a speaker.  The process model writes to the Request table the status of the Volunteer Request, (Approved or Not Approved), then writes the data to the Speaker table for those Volunteer Requests that are approved.

When I process an approved Volunteer Request, the process throws an error at the XOR decision node.

The error is, "An error occurred while evaluating expression: =pv!volunteerRecord['recordType!PMSO Volunteer Request.fields.volunteerStatusId']=2 (Expression evaluation error : Cannot compare incompatible operands of type Null and type Number (Integer).)"

However, the Write Record smart service Update Request, does it's job perfectly and updates the volunteerStatusId in the pv to 2 for an approved Volunteer Request and writes the data to the database.

The expression in the XOR decision node is:

The field is an integer field and I am comparing to a number.  I'm not sure where the null comes in.