ST. PAUL, Minn. - The fourth-seeded #9 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (22-8) will face fifth-seeded #7 Southwest Minnesota State (23-8) in the NCAA Central Region quarterfinals on the campus of Nebraska-Kearney on Thursday night at 5 p.m.

SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and Mustangs head into Thursday with an extensive series history as Concordia has met SMSU more times than any other program on the volleyball court. In the previous 63 meetings, CSP holds an edge of 36-26-1 over Southwest Minnesota State, including a 25-9 advantage in NSIC play. Concordia has found similar success both home and away in the series as they have gone 13-8 in Marshall compared to 19-13 in St. Paul while SMSU holds a slight 4-5-1 edge in neutral site meetings. The two teams have been especially familiar with one another in the past few years with 10 meetings since the start of the 2016 season with the Golden Bears going 6-4 during that stretch, including two of the three this season. Concordia and Southwest Minnesota State have met four times previously in the NCAA Tournament with CSP going 3-1. Concordia won the last tournament meeting with a sweep in the 2016 region championship in St. Paul.

LAST MEETING VS SMSU
Back on Oct. 26, the Golden Bears dropped the final three sets in a four-set loss (25-18, 19-25, 15-25, 18-25) at Southwest Minnesota State.

The Mustang offense, headlined by reigning National Player of the Year Taylor Reiss, was too much for the Golden Bears to handle as they finished with 62 kills and just 14 errors on 135 swings for a .356 hitting percentage. Reiss had over twice as many kills than any other player in the match as she registered a staggering 32 kills on 71 attempts to collect a .366 hitting percentage.
 
Angela Young also reached double figures for SMSU with 11 kills. Emma Thomssen added 51 assists while Kaylee Burmeister picked up a match-best 15 digs.
 
Sara Macek led the Golden Bears with 14 kills while committing just a single error to hit .565 while Brooklyn Lewis followed close behind with 12 to go along with 12 digs for her third consecutive double-double.
 
Tori Hanson chipped in 11 digs while Hope Schiller added 10 digs in the loss. Elizabeth Mohr finished with 42 assists as well.

NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Golden Bears have made it into the NCAA Tournament field in all 16 seasons under head coach Brady Starkey and have won 11 Central Region titles during that span. CSP has gone 67-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and has collected a record nine NCAA Division II National Championships in the past 11 years, including a 43-match winning streak that was snapped in the 2014 Central Region semifinals by Southwest Minnesota State.

The Golden Bears are 13-0 in regional quarterfinals, with two byes, and have won their first match all 15 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 Nebraska-Kearney for the regional back in 2011, CSP swept Minnesota State, Minnesota Duluth and Southwest Minnesota State en route to their fifth national title in a row to that point.

LAST TIME OUT
Last Tuesday, the fourth-seeded #8 Concordia Golden Bears volleyball team fell to fifth-seeded Sioux Falls in the NSIC Tournament quarterfinal.

While the Golden Bears finished with a higher hitting percentage (.296-.264), more digs (59-50), an even number of blocks (6.0-6.0) and nearly as many kills (56-58), serving proved to be the difference as Sioux Falls finished with a large 9-3 edge in service aces. The whole team got into the act for the Cougars as six different players registered aces on the night.
 
In the loss, Hope Schiller put together a massive statistical night as she led the team with 17 kills and 18 digs to go along with three blocks as she hit .417. Brooklyn Lewis, Kennedy Brady and Leah Damerow all joined Schiller in double figures in kill with 10 apiece while Tori Hanson picked up 19 digs and Erin Fallert added 10. Lewis's 10 kills brought her career total to 999 as she sits just one away from reaching 1,000. Elizabeth Mohr surpassed the 50-assist mark once again as she finished at 53.

IN THE POLLS
For the first time since September 2015, the Golden Bears fell out of the top-5 as they dropped to #6 two weeks ago before dropping to #9 this week. 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 they rank outside the top-5 for just the second time since October 2012. The Golden Bears have spent an incredible 83 weeks at #1 since they debuted there in the 2004 preseason poll. Since the 2007 season, CSP has ranked #1 at least once every season.

ALL-NSIC PICKS
For the third year in a row, the Golden Bears garnered five All-Conference selections as they had four named to the First Team and one named to the Second Team. Both Brooklyn Lewis and Elizabeth Mohr were repeat All-NSIC First Team picks while Hope Schiller improved on last year's Second Team pick to be selected to the First Team as well this year. Sara Macek (First Team) and Tori Hanson (Second Team) were both first time selections.

STATISTICAL LEADERS
Heading into the postseason, the Golden Bears ranks near the top in the country in several areas as a team and as individuals.

CSP sits in second in the nation in kills per set at 15.02, second in hitting percentage at .283 and second in assists per set at 14.33. Elizabeth Mohr has played a big role in that success as her 13.15 assists per set lead the nation.

Brooklyn Lewis has led the way offensively as her 3.74 kills per set rank 47th in the nation (eighth in the NSIC) and her .321 hitting percentage ranks 90th. Sara Macek registers in even higher in hitting percentage at .404, good for fifth in the nation and first in the league.

Tori Hanson also ranks eighth in the NSIC with 4.40 digs per set while also ranking seventh in the conference with 0.37 aces per set.

CHASING 1,000
Concordia-St. Paul senior right side Brooklyn Lewis has been a force over her two seasons as a regular starter and now finds herself within striking distance of joining the 1,000 kill club at CSP. The Kasson native sits at 999 kills heading into Thursday match. Lewis would become the 21st Golden Bear to reach the mark, with Mariya Sampson the last to reach the mark as she reached it in last season's region tournament.