INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – On Monday night, Concordia-St. Paul was selected as the second seed in the Central Region Tournament as the NCAA released the 2017 NCAA Division II Volleyball Tournament bracket. CSP will face Central Oklahoma in the first round.
The Golden Bears, along with the rest of the field, will convene in Marshall as Southwest Minnesota State was named the top seed and host of the tournament. CSP hosted the tournament in each of the past two seasons, last hitting the road in the regional road in 2013 and 2014 with trips to Duluth. Concordia's lone previous trip to SMSU for the NCAA Central Region Tournament came during the Golden Bears' run to their fourth consecutive title in 2010.
CSP dropped out of the top spot in the region polls after being swept by the Mustangs in the NSIC Tournament Championship match on Sunday afternoon as the Golden Bears were halted in their search for a third conference title in a row. Concordia also dropped two spots in the AVCA Poll on Monday as they moved to third behind #1 California Baptist and #2 Southwest Minnesota State.
The Golden Bears have made it into the NCAA Tournament field in all 15 seasons under head coach
Brady Starkey and have won 10 Central Region titles during that span. CSP has gone 61-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and has collected eight NCAA Division II National Championships, with seven in a row from 2007-14 before claiming the title last season.
The tournament field includes four NSIC schools as well as three teams from the MIAA and the automatic qualifier from the GAC. Concordia and SMSU are joined by fourth-seeded Northern State and fifth-seeded Minnesota Duluth to represent the Northern Sun.
Nebraska-Kearney earned the automatic bid in the MIAA by winning their conference tournament and locked up the third seed in the NCAA regional. Along with UNK, sixth-seeded Missouri Western and seventh-seeded Central Oklahoma make the field from the MIAA. Rounding out the field is Arkansas Tech as ATU finished off an undefeated regular season to win the GAC Tournament and claim the automatic bid as the eighth seed. Seven of the eight schools currently rank inside the top-15 in the AVCA Poll with Missouri Western the lone team not in the top-25.
Concordia's meeting with Central Oklahoma marks just the second time that the Golden Bears and Bronchos will face off on the volleyball court. The only previous meeting came in the NCAA regional semifinal back in 2015 as CSP rolled to a sweep.
2017 NCAA Central Region Tournament quarterfinal pairings
Quarterfinals, Thursday, November 30 – Marshall, Minn. (PE Gym)
12:00 p.m. - No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul (28-3) vs. No. 7 Central Oklahoma (29-5)
2:30 p.m. - No. 3 Nebraska-Kearney (33-3) vs. No. 6 Missouri Western (24-10)
5:00 p.m. - No. 4 Northern State (23-6) vs. No. 5 Minnesota Duluth (24-6)
7:30 p.m. - No. 1 Southwest Minnesota State (28-3) vs. No. 8 Arkansas Tech (35-0)
Semifinals, Friday, December 1 - Marshall, Minn. (PE Gym)
5:00 p.m. - CSP/UCO winner vs UNK/MWSU winner
7:30 p.m. - NSU/UMD winner vs SMSU/ATU winner
Championship, Saturday, December 2 - Marshall, Minn. (PE Gym)
3:00 p.m. - Semifinal winners
