ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Second-seeded #3 Concordia University volleyball team (26-5) begins their postseason push for an eighth consecutive national championship as they open up the NCAA Central Region Tournament on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. against seventh-seeded #13 Washburn University (24-6).

All games will be played at Romano Gym on the campus of Minnesota Duluth. Ticket and parking and parking information for the tournament are available on the tournament website hosting by UMD.

THE MATCHUP... The Golden Bears meet the Ichabods of the MIAA conference for just the fourth time ever. Washburn won the first meeting in five sets back in 2003 but CU has swept the last two meetings coming in 2006 and 2011. This marks the first postseason meeting between the two schools.

LAST TIME OUT... Concordia was eliminated by #7 Wayne State in the NSIC / US Bank Tournament semifinals in five sets.

The Golden Bears showed their resolve as they erased a 2-1 deficit in the match to force a fifth set but were unable to complete the comeback as the Wildcats closed it out with a hard fought 15-13 win in the fifth. Despite losing the match, Concordia managed to collect 82 kills compared to 65 for WSC and also out-hit the Wildcats .288-.262. A big factor was CU committing 27 errors while Wayne State had 17.

Anna Schlaak and Emma Lange each broke the 20 kill plateau as Schlaak had a double-double with a career-high 25 kills and 14 digs while Lange fell one kill short of her career high with 21 but set career bests with nine assists and nine digs while hitting .436.
 
Kasey Williams also eclipsed a career high with 66 assists to go along with 17 digs for a double-double. Taylor Dordan and Lisa Atkinson also finished in double figures in digs with 19 and 14, respectively.

NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY... This marks Concordia's 12th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division II Volleyball Tournament with the program producing a 52-4 all-time tournament record. The Golden Bears enter this season's tournament riding a 42-match winning streak in NCAA postseason play dating back to the 2006 season. CU has also reached the NCAA Region Championship (Sweet Sixteen) in each of head coach Brady Starkey's 11 seasons at the helm.

The Golden Bears return Heather Schiller from last season's NCAA Central Region All-Tournament Team and Riley Hanson from last season's NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team.

ALL-NSIC PERFORMERS... The Golden Bears had five players named to the team. Anna Schlaak, Riley Hanson and Emma Lange earned First Team honors while Heather Schiller and Kasey Williams were named to the Second Team.