ST. PAUL, Minn. – The top-seeded #1 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (29-4) advances to the NCAA Central Region Championship with a sweep of fourth-seeded #14 Central Oklahoma (31-5) at the Gangelhoff Center on Friday night. The Golden Bears will face seventh-seeded #11 Wayne State tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m.
 
Concordia moves on to the region finals for the 12^th time in 13 seasons as they improved their overall record in tournament play to 50 games over .500 at 55-5. At the Gangelhoff Center, CSP holds a record of 25-2 in tournament action as they look to wrap up their sixth region title on their home floor and 10^th region title overall.
 
The Golden Bears will take on Wayne State for the 41^st time as they enter tomorrow's match with a record of 29-11 against the Wildcats. This year, CSP has won both meetings in four sets.


NCAA Central Region Semifinals 12.4.15 - Images by Justin Oakman
 
In the semifinal against the Bronchos, Concordia imposed their will on the match as they dominated both offensively and defensively and made it very difficult on UCO. The Golden Bears surpassed the .500 mark hitting as they put up a mark of .518 while they held Central Oklahoma to .091.
 
CSP controlled every aspect of the match as they out-blocked the Bronchos 11.0-0.0, while holding the edge 47-33 in digs and 8-6 in service aces as well.
 
Anna Schlaak put up a career-best hitting percentage in the win at .684 as she was nearly unstoppable with 13 kills on 19 swings while committing no errors. Emma Lange joined her in double figures in kills with 10 as she also added four blocks.
 
Kasey Williams was dominant from the setter position as she contributed 39 assists and 11 digs for the double-double as she put her hitters in great positions all night long. Taylor Dordan provided some defense in the back row as she led all players with 12 digs.
 
Barbara Jackson led all UCO players with six kills to go along with seven digs while Bonnie Vernon paced the squad with nine digs. Katy Davis chipped in 24 assists for the Bronchos as well.
 
After Concordia ran out to a 6-3 lead in the first, Central Oklahoma battled back to make things interesting. The set featured five ties and two lead changes as it remained even as late as 13-13. CSP turned it on a bit from there as they created a bit of separation with a four point lead at 19-15 before eventually extending it all the way to six at the final margin of 25-19.
 
The Golden Bears took control from the first serve in the second set as they rattled off six in a row after UCO claimed the first point. Concordia kept their foot on the gas pedal from there as they pushed it to double digits at 14-3 before growing their advantage to 15 at 20-5. The Bronchos were unable to recover as CSP took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-11 win in the second.
 
It was much of the same in the third as the Golden Bears quickly built a 12-3 lead to put Central Oklahoma in a deep hole early. The lead hit double figures at 14-4 and continued to increase from there as Concordia finished off the sweep with another 25-11 set win in the third to advance to the title match.