ST. PAUL, Minn. - The top-seeded #3 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (31-3) continues play in the NCAA Tournament this week as they face eighth-seeded New Haven (26-7) in the NCAA National Quarterfinal at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night on the campus of West Florida.

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 11 Central Region titles during that span. CSP has gone 64-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and has collected a record eight NCAA Division II National Championships (all in the past 10 years), including a 43-match NCAA Tournament winning streak that was snapped in the 2014 Central Region semifinals by Southwest Minnesota State.
 
In Concordia's nine previous times advancing past the regional, the Golden Bears have amassed a record of 26-2 at the national site and have gone 9-1 in the national quarterfinal (Elite Eight) all-time. CSP has won 24 in a row in the Elite Eight field as they went a perfect 3-0 in all eight 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.

SERIES HISTORY VS NEW HAVEN
The Golden Bears have met the Chargers just one previous time heading into Thursday night's contest. The lone meeting also came in the national quarterfinals back in 2008 as Concordia cruised to a sweep of New Haven at Gangelhoff Center prior to picking up the program's second NCAA championship.

In that win, CSP compiled an impressive .425 hitting percentage for the match as the Golden Bears did not allow more than 15 points in any of the three sets.

Sadie Kessler had a tremendous match for the Golden Bears, putting down ten kills on 13 attempts with no errors. Then-senior Whitney Meierotto also posted ten kills and finished with a double-double with 11 digs. With seven kills on the night, then-sophomore Emily Palkert, now the program's all-time leader in kills, became the fastest player in Concordia history to reach 1,000 career kills on the night.



GOLDEN BEARS AGAINST THE REST OF THE FIELD
Much like the quarterfinal matchup, Concordia has very little past experience against either potential semifinal opponent. The Golden Bears have never met Flagler on the volleyball court and lost their only previous meeting with Rockhurst which came all the way back in 1995.

If Concordia were to advance all the way to the title match, three of the four possible opponents are much more familiar foes as CSP has faced CSU San Bernardino, Regis and Florida Southern at least five times each.

While the two schools haven't met since 2012, the Golden Bears and CSU San Bernardino have squared off in some massive contests with CSP claiming seven wins in eight meetings. Five of those wins have come in the NCAA Tournament, including the 2008 and 2011 National Championship matches.

Against the Rangers of Regis, Concordia has gone a perfect 7-0, including a 2008 meeting in the NCAA Central Region Tournament.

The Golden Bears are also unbeaten against Florida Southern, with CSP winning all five meetings. The Mocs are the only team in the field that Concordia has faced this year, with CSP winning in straight sets on the first day of the season.

Rounding out the field, the Golden Bears have met Gannon once prior with the Golden Knights claiming a five-set win in 1999.

LAST TIME OUT
Over the weekend, Concordia claimed their 11th NSIC Central Region Championship in program history with wins over Central Oklahoma, Missouri Western State and Minnesota Duluth.
 
After two days of grinding out victories, the Golden Bears were firing on all cylinders in the title match as they hit over .300 in three of the four sets against a solid UMD defense while holding their high-powered offense to below .250 in all four sets. Overall in the match, Concordia put up 58 kills with 18 errors on 136 swings for a .294 hitting percentage while Minnesota Duluth finished with 52 kills and 25 errors on 147 swings for a .184 mark.

With their performance in the tournament, Concordia had Elizabeth Mohr, Mariya Sampson, Brooklyn Lewis and Shelby Seurer all named to the NCAA Central Region All-Tournament Team as the quartet of upperclassmen played key roles throughout.
 
IN THE POLLS
After sitting in the top spot in the AVCA Polls five weeks this season, CSP dropped to third in the lastest poll 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.
 
AWARD WINNERS
The Golden Bears add two more AVCA All-America selections to program lore as junior setter Elizabeth Mohr earned first team honors and junior outside hitter Brooklyn Lewis was named to the second team.

Last week, the Golden Bears had three players earn AVCA All-Region honors as senior Mariya Sampson and juniors Elizabeth Mohr and Brooklyn Lewis were named to the team. In addition, Lewis was also named D2CCA All-Region Second Team. The trio was joined by Shelby Seurer in earning All-NSIC First Team selections while Hope Schiller was named to the Second Team. Head coach Brady Starkey also took home his fifth NSIC Coach of the Year selection.

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 13.10 assists per set while tallying 1651 assists overall heading into the week.
 
The Golden Bears' Shelby Seurer ranks seventh in the league with a .352 hitting percentage while Sydney Book and Brooklyn Lewis follow close behind in eighth at .344 and ninth at .340, respectively. 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 4.03 kills per set rank fourth in the league while her 4.31 points per set also rank fourth. 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 ninth with 4.21 digs per set.