ST. PAUL, Minn. - The fourth-seeded #8 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (22-7) will host fifth-seeded Sioux Falls (19-9) in the NSIC Tournament quarterfinals at Gangelhoff Center on Tuesday night at 6 p.m.

TICKET INFORMATION
In the NSIC Tournament, ticket prices are as follows: Adult tickets are $10, senior tickets are $8, student tickets are $2 and children five and under are free. The first 100 CSP students get in free.

SIOUX FALLS SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday's meeting between the Golden Bears and Cougars marks the 15th all-time meeting between the two schools with CSP holding a 10-4 record in the 14 previous meetings. Since Sioux Falls joined the NSIC, Concordia won the first nine meetings before USF snapped the streak a few weeks ago. CSP has won five of the six meetings on their home court, including all five since 1999. The two schools have never met in the postseason.

LAST MEETING VS USF
Back on Oct. 27, the Golden Bears were defeated in straight sets by Sioux Falls in the team's final regular season road contest.

Sioux Falls overmatched the Golden Bears with a dominant offensive performance as they compiled an impressive .456 hitting percentage with 48 kills and just seven errors on 90 swings. The .456 mark is the highest opponent hitting percentage during coach Starkey's tenure as head coach at CSP. The last time Concordia saw an opponent register a mark above .400 came back in the Central Region Championship against Wayne State on Dec. 5, 2015.
 
The USF defense was also solid as they held Concordia to their second lowest hitting percentage of the year at .177 as CSP had 37 kills and 20 errors on 96 attempts in the loss.
 
Hope Schiller and Brooklyn Lewis were the top producers in the attack for the Golden Bears as Schiller finished with 13 kills and seven digs while Lewis added 11 kills.
 
Bria Barfnecht was dominant for the Cougar as she led all players with 15 kills while registering a .750 hitting percentage in the win. Averey Yakisch chipped in 10 kills and eight digs as well while Krista Goerger dished out 42 assists in the win.

LAST TIME OUT
After picking up a sweep of Augie to start the weekend, Concordia dropped their first match on their home court all season with a four-set loss to Wayne State.

There was no shortage of offense at Gangelhoff Center over the weekend as CSP hit .329 as a team compared to .300 for their opponents. The Golden Bears tallied an incredible 16.14 kills per set while Augie and WSC combined for 13.57 per set.

Concordia's two middle blockers tied for the team lead with 3.43 kills per set as Macek hit an efficient .553 while Kennedy Brady followed close behind at .487. Elizabeth Mohr contributed an impressive 14.57 assists per set while also chipping in 1.71 digs and 0.57 aces per set while the team hit .329.

NSIC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Entering this year, Concordia has gone 23-5 overall in the conference tournament in 10 previous trips. In those previous trips, CSP has reached the title match eight times and has won five titles (2004, 2005, 2006, 2015 and 2016). The Golden Bears have gone a perfect 10-0 in opening round matches as they have advanced to at least the semifinals every year. Last season, Concordia picked up back-to-back five-set wins over Wayne State and Minnesota Duluth before being swept by Southwest Minnesota State in the championship.

IN THE POLLS
For the first time since September 2015, the Golden Bears fell out of the top-5 as they dropped to #6 in last week's poll before dropping to #8 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 ranked 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 15.06, second in hitting percentage at .283 and second in assists per set at 14.35. 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 3.79 kills per set rank 41st in the nation (seventh in the NSIC) and her .328 hitting percentage ranks 82nd. Sara Macek registers in even higher in hitting percentage at .409, good for fifth in the nation and first in the league.

Tori Hanson also ranks eighth in the NSIC with 4.39 digs per set while also ranking seventh in the conference with 0.39 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 989 kills heading into Friday night's 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.