ST. PAUL, Minn. - The top-seeded #1 Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team (32-2) is set to play eighth-seeded American International (28-6) at the 2016 NCAA Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. at Sanford Pentagon in the first ever meeting between the two schools.

ABOUT THE YELLOW JACKETS
In just their second trip to the NCAA Tournament in program history, American International is advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time ever after winning their first three tournament matches. The Yellow Jackets jumped ahead of Daemen College in the NCAA East Region Championship two sets to none before holding on to win in dramatic fashion in the fifth set.

American International has been playing some of their best volleyball of the season heading into the matchup with 12 wins in their last 13 matches. Their lone loss during that span came in a five-set loss to New Haven in the Northeast-10 semfinals.

The Yellow Jackets are led Northeast-10 Player of the Year and AVCA All-East Region selection Diva Rivas-Reyes and her team-leading 4.15 kills per set with a .238 hitting percentage on the year. Libero Mercy Rivera, also an AVCA All-East Region pick, leads the squad with 5.80 digs per set.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears claimed their 10th NCAA Central Region title as they picked up wins over Southern Nazarene, #6 Winona State and #3 Southwest Minnesota State to move on to Sioux Falls.

In the title match with SMSU, i t was an impressive night for CSP as they held an edge in nearly every statistical category on the night. The Golden Bears hit a robust .342, including a solid .500 in the third set, while they limited the Mustangs to .140. Concordia also edged SMSU 50-30 in kills, 55-39 in digs, 6.0-0.0 in total blocks and 8-5 in service aces in the winning effort.

Concordia was well represented in the NCAA Central Region All-Tournament Team as Riley Hanson, Emily McDonough, Kasey Williams and Emma Lange were all named to the team.

NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Golden Bears have made it into the NCAA Tournament field in all 14 seasons under head coach Brady Starkey and have won 10 Central Region titles during that span. CSP has gone 58-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and collected a record seven consecutive NCAA Division II National Championships from 2007-13, including a 43-match winning streak that was snapped in the 2014 Central Region semifinals by Southwest Minnesota State.

In Concordia's nine previous times advancing past the the regional, the Golden Bears have amassed a record of 23-2 and have gone 8-1 in the Elite Eight all-time. CSP has won 21 in a row in the Elite Eight field as they went a perfect 3-0 in all seven of their national title seasons. The Golden Bears made their first trip in program history to the Elite Eight in 2003 as they fell in the National Championship to North Alabama. They also made the trip in 2005, dropping their quarterfinal match to Tampa.

IN THE POLLS
After spending the first five weeks in the top spot in the AVCA Poll, CSP has returned to the top spot in each of the past five weeks after after four weeks at #2 and #3. Concordia has been a mainstay near the top of the poll for over a decade as they haven't ranked outside the top-10 since 2003 and have spent just one week outside the top-5 since October 2012. The Golden Bears have now spent an incredible 75 weeks at #1 since they debuted there in the 2003 preseason poll. Since the 2007 season, CSP has ranked #1 at least once every season.

NATIONAL LEADERS
Heading into this week, Concordia has players that rank first and second in the country in statistical categories while the team ranks either #1 or #2 in three categories.
 
Riley Hanson sits in the top spot in hitting percentage with an efficient mark of .439 as she leads all players by a full .030 percentage points. Kasey Williams ranks second in assists per set at 12.28, trailing only SMSU's Megan Larson in the category.
 
The Golden Bears as a team lead the nation with a .327 hitting percentage while also ranking second with 14.17 assists per set and second with 14.96 kills per set.

ALL-REGION HONORS
Last week, the Golden Bears had four players earn All-Region honors as Riley Hanson, Emma Lange, Kasey Williams and Anna Schlaak were all named AVCA All-Central Region. It was the third consecutive selection for both Hanson and Lange while Williams returned to the list after previously earned a selection in 2014. Schlaak was also previously honored as a 2014 All-Region honorable mention pick. In addition Riley Hanson was named D2CCA All-Region First Team while Kasey Williams and Emma Lange were both named to the Second Team.

REACHING 1,000
This season, Concordia has seen a trio of players reach 1,000 as Anna Schlaak joined the 1,000 kill club and 1,000 dig club while Emily McDonough joined the 1,000 dig club and Emma Lange joined the 1,000 kill club.
 
Back on Oct. 7 at Augustana, senior Anna Schlaak became the 17th member of the 1,000 kill club at Concordia as she earned AVCA National Player of the Week and NSIC Offensive Player of the Week in the process. She also surpassed the 1,000 dig club last Friday to become just he fifth member of the prestigious 1,000/1,000 club in kills and digs at CSP and only the third to do so entirely at Concordia.
 
Schlaak joined teammate Riley Hanson in reaching 1,000 kills, who reached that plateau last season, as the two current players to reach that mark. Since then, Hanson has pushed her career total to 1,447 kills to move into seventh in program history.
 
Emma Lange joined the mix during the NCAA Central Region Tournament as her first kill in the semifinal matchup with Winona State put her over 1,000 kills in her career to become the 18th player at the school to reach the mark.
 
Senior libero Emily McDonough surpassed the mark of 1,000 digs on Oct. 15 against Sioux Falls as she became the 14th player in Concordia history to join the club.

Senior Kasey Williams also sits in range of 1,000 as she has picked up 992 digs in her career to go along with 4,592 assists. In addition to nearing 1,000 digs, she became the fourth player at Concordia to reach 4,000 assists as well.