INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – On Monday night, third-ranked Concordia-St. Paul earned a spot as the third seed in the Central Region Tournament as the NCAA released the 2019 NCAA Division II Volleyball Tournament bracket. CSP will face fifth-ranked and sixth-seeded Washburn in the first round on Dec. 5 at noon.
 
The Golden Bears, along with the rest of the field, will travel to Kearney, Neb. as Nebraska-Kearney was named the top seed and host of the tournament for the second season in a row. CSP reached the region title match last season, falling to Washburn in five sets. Concordia's only other trip to UNK for the NCAA Central Region Tournament came during the Golden Bears' run to their then-fifth consecutive national title in 2011.
 
CSP moved up from fourth in the final region rankings to third after winning the NSIC Tournament title and earning the automatic bid over the weekend.
 
The Golden Bears have made it into the NCAA Tournament field in all 17 seasons under head coach Brady Starkey and have won 11 Central Region titles during that span. CSP has gone 69-7 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and has collected nine NCAA Division II National Championships, with seven in a row from 2007-14 before claiming two more in 2016-17.
 
The tournament field includes four NSIC schools as well as three teams from the MIAA and the automatic qualifier from the GAC. Concordia is joined by second-seeded Minnesota Duluth, fourth-seeded Northern State and fifth-seeded St. Cloud State to represent the Northern Sun.
 
Nebraska-Kearney earned the automatic bid in the MIAA by winning their conference tournament and locking up the top seed in the NCAA regional. Along with UNK, sixth-seeded Washburn and seventh-seeded Central Missouri make the field from the MIAA. Rounding out the field is Oklahoma Baptist as the Bison won the GAC Tournament title in three sets over Harding to claim the automatic bid as the eighth seed. Seven of the eight schools currently rank inside the top nine in the AVCA Poll with Oklahoma Baptist the lone team not in the top-25.
 
Concordia's meeting with Washburn will be the sixth in the all-time series as the Golden Bears hold a 3-2 record in the previous five meetings. The past two meetings have come in the NCAA Tournament as CSP knocked off WU in the opening round back in 2014 before falling to the Ichabods in the region title last year.
 
2019 NCAA Central Region Tournament quarterfinal pairings
Quarterfinals, Thursday, December 5 – Kearney, Neb. (Health & Sports Center)
12:00 p.m. - No. 3 Concordia-St. Paul (25-7) vs. No. 6 Washburn (27-3)
2:30 p.m. - No. 2 Minnesota Duluth (24-6) vs. No. 7 Central Missouri (23-9)
5:00 p.m. - No. 4 Northern State (24-5) vs. No. 5 St. Cloud State (25-6)
7:30 p.m. - No. 1 Nebraska-Kearney (33-0) vs. No. 8 Oklahoma Baptist (28-5)
 
Semifinals, Friday, December 6 - Kearney, Neb. (Health & Sports Center)
5:00 p.m. – UMD/UCM winner vs CSP/WU winner
7:30 p.m. – UNK/OBU winner vs NSU/SCSU winner
 
Championship, Saturday, December 7 - Kearney, Neb. (Health & Sports Center)
6:00 p.m. - Semifinal winners