ST. PAUL, Minn. - The second-seeded #3 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (28-3) opens up NCAA Tournament action this week as they take on seventh-seeded #15 Central Oklahoma (29-5) in the first round of the NCAA Central Region Tournament in Marshall, Minn. on Thursday at noon.
 
TICKET INFORMATION
In the NCAA Central Region Tournament, ticket prices are as follows: Adult tickets are $8, student tickets (all schools) are $5 and children five and under are free.
 
CENTRAL OKLAHOMA SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears have met the Bronchos just one previous time heading into Thursday's contest as CSP rolled to a sweep on their home court in the semifinals of the 2015 NCAA Central Region Tournament.
 
LAST MEETING VS UCO
Nearly two years ago to the day back on Dec. 4, 2015, CSP picked up a sweep of Central Oklahoma to advance to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
 
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.
 
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
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 a record eight NCAA Division II National Championships in the past 10 years, including a 43-match winning streak that was snapped in the 2014 Central Region semifinals by Southwest Minnesota State.
 
The Golden Bears are 12-0 in regional quarterfinals, with two byes, and have won their first match all 14 years under Starkey. Concordia has reached the NCAA Region Championship (Sweet Sixteen) every year with the exception of 2014. In Concordia's lone previous trip to Southwest Minnesota State for the regional back in 2010, CSP knocked off Minnesota State, Metro State and Nebraska-Kearney en route to their fourth national title in a row to that point.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Two weeks ago, CSP reached the NSIC Tournament Championship, but fell to the Mustangs in straight sets in the title match. With the loss, Concordia moved to 23-5 all-time in the NSIC Tournament with a 5-3 record in tournament championship matches.
 
The Mustangs became the first team to beat CSP on their home court since Sept. 30, 2016 as their home winning streak was snapped at 25 overall and 12 this season.
 
In the match, Brooklyn Lewis provided a major bright spot with a team-best 18 kills on 39 swings as she put together an impressive .436 hitting percentage in the day. Outside of Lewis, CSP finished with a 16-13-74 line to put together an .040 hitting percentage. Overall, Concordia compiled a mark of .177.
 
For the tournament, Lewis was named to the NSIC All-Tournament Team after putting up a massive 4.62 kills per set and a .478 hitting percentage on the week. Tori Hanson was also named to the All-Tournament Team by leading the team with 66 digs (5.08 per set) to go along with four service aces.
 
IN THE POLLS
After sitting in the top spot in the AVCA Polls five weeks this season, CSP dropped to third this week after falling to #2 SMSU in the NSIC Championship. 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 spent an incredible 80 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.
 
NSIC LEADERS
Heading into the tournament, Concordia has gotten production from throughout their lineup with six different players that rank near the top of the NSIC in six different statistical categories this year.
 
Setter Elizabeth Mohr leads the way in that regard as she leads the nation in assists per set while also ranking second in total assists as she amassed an average of 13.08 assists per set while tallying 1504 assists overall heading into the week.
 
The Golden Bears' Sydney Book ranks sixth in the league with a .359 hitting percentage while Shelby Seurer follows close behind in eighth at .344. While Book and Seurer have led the way in hitting percentage, Brooklyn Lewis has been the go-to hitter for the Golden Bears as her 4.02 kills per set rank fourth in the league while her 4.22 points per set rank fifth and her .339 hitting percentage ranks sixth. Lewis was even better in conference play as her  4.25 kills per set in league contests ranked third in the NSIC and her .352 hitting percentage ranked 10th.
 
Freshmen Erin Fallert and Tori Hanson round out the group as Fallert ranks fifth in the league with 0.38 aces per set while Hanson ranks eighth with 4.30 digs per set.