ST. PAUL, Minn. - The 15th-ranked and seventh-seeded Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (22-8) is set to face seventh-ranked and second-seeded St. Cloud State (27-4) in the NCAA Central Region Volleyball Tournament quarterfinal on the campus of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo. on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

SCSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears have dominated the all-time series with the Huskies as they have claimed 29 wins in 31 previous meetings. CSP had claimed 27 consecutive wins heading into the 2019 meeting in St. Cloud before the Huskies pulled off a wild comeback to grab a five-set victory. Concordia got their revenge two weeks later as the Golden Bears knocked off SCSU in the NSIC title match. The two teams met back on Oct. 1 as Concordia claimed a four-set win in St. Cloud. Their only previous postseason meeting came back on Nov. 24, 2019, with CSP sweeping SCSU in the NSIC Tournament Championship match.

LAST MEETING VS SCSU
Back on Oct. 1, the Golden Bears claimed a four-set road win (25-22, 33-35, 25-14, 26-24) at St. Cloud State to move to 6-0 in NSIC play.

CSP and SCSU went back and forth for much of the night with a total of 32 ties and 14 lead changes over four sets, highlighted by 17 ties and seven lead changes in a wild second set. The final margin of 35-33 in favor of St. Cloud State marked the highest scoring set in the DII era for Concordia and the highest score since dropping the second set 37-35 against Minnesota Duluth on Sept. 11, 2007. Following a wild second set, the Golden Bears stormed back to claim a comfortable set three victory before needing extra points in the fourth set to close out the match with a 26-24 set win.
 
While the Huskies managed to hold a slim 62-59 edge in kills on the night, Concordia proved to be more efficient with a .288-.185 edge in hitting percentage while also winning the serving battle and the battle at the net with a 10-6 advantage in aces and a 12.0-5.0 edge in blocks. The 12.0 blocks were a season high while the 10 aces ranked third on the year.
 
The duo of Kennedy Brady and Jasmine Mulvihill provided the team with production both offensively and defensively as they both tallied 15 kills and six blocks in the win. Brady finished with an efficient .565 hitting percentage while Mulvihill added 13 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Kora Kritzberger matched the block total with six of her own to go along with seven kills while Sophia Andersen chipped in 11 kills and seven digs.
 
Tori Hanson continued to be a rock in the back row with her 12th double-digit dig total on the year with a season-best 23. She was joined in double figures by Mulvihill with 13, Ellianna Wiertsema with 11 and Emma Schmidt with 10. Wiertsema added three aces in the winning effort. Ellie Veldman nearly made it five in double figures as she collected 47 assists, eight digs, four kills, three aces and two blocks in a full stat line.

NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Golden Bears have made it into the NCAA Tournament field in all 18 seasons under head coach Brady Starkey and have won 11 Central Region titles during that span. CSP has gone 71-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and has collected a record nine NCAA Division II National Championships, including a 43-match winning streak that was snapped in the 2014 Central Region semifinals by Southwest Minnesota State.

The Golden Bears are 15-0 in regional quarterfinals, with two byes, and have won their first match all 17 years under Starkey. Concordia has reached the NCAA Region Championship (Sweet Sixteen) every season with the exception of 2014. CSP will be making their first ever trip to Warrensburg, Mo. for tournament play.

LAST TIME OUT
Back on Nov. 18, Concordia-St. Paul fell in four sets (25-17, 32-34, 13-25, 23-25) to Augustana (19-10) in the NSIC Tournament quarterfinal at Sanford Pentagon.

Jasmine Mulvihill collected her ninth double-double of the season while matching her season best with 22 kills, a mark she has now hit three times. She committed just six errors on her 40 attempts to finish with a .400 hitting percentage to go along with her 10 digs.
 
Tori Hanson and Emma Schmidt matched each other with a team-best 13 digs in the contest while Hanson added four assists and Schmidt had nine kills and three aces. Teagan Starkey compiled 32 assists while Ellie Veldman chipped in 16.
 
IN THE POLLS
For the first time since 2003, Concordia dropped out of the top-10 in the AVCA poll a few weeks ago. The Golden Bears moved from #13 to #15 in the latest poll after their first round defeat in the NSIC Tournament. In total, the Golden Bears have spent an incredible 84 weeks at #1 since they debuted there in the 2004 preseason poll. Since the 2007 season, CSP has ranked #1 at least once in all but one season.

CONFERENCE LEADERS
So far this season, the Golden Bears have gotten production throughout their lineup as six different players that rank in the top-20 in the league in at least one statistical category this season.

Jasmine Mulvihill and Sophia Andersen rank inside the top-20 in kills per set as Mulvihill sits in seventh with 3.77 kills per set while Andersen sits in 14th with 2.89. Kennedy Brady also ranks near the top in hitting percentage as she ranks seventh at .335 and she also ranks eighth in blocks per set at 1.05.

Tori Hanson ranks fourth in digs per set at 4.48 and 15th in service aces per set at 0.32. Emma Schmidt ranks eighth in aces per set at 0.36 and Mulvihill ranks 19th with 0.31 aces per set while Ellie Veldman ranks 10th in assists per set at 7.92.

ALL-NSIC PICKS
The Golden Bears extended their streak to 19 consecutive seasons with at least four all-conference picks as they have reached that mark every season since 2001. Tori Hanson was named NSIC Libero of the Year while Hanson and Jasmine Mulvihill were named to the First Team. Sophia Andersen and Kennedy Brady were named to the Second Team.

CLIMBING THE RANKS
After reaching the 1,000 career dig mark late in her sophomore season, senior libero Tori Hanson reached 2,000 in her career earlier this season. Hanson currently ranks third in DII-era history at CSP with 2,104 digs, sitting 110 shy of Megan Graham in second, and third in service aces with 154, 11 shy of Jessica Lucia in second.

Sophomore Jasmine Mulvihill is closing in on becoming the 22nd member of the 1,000 kill club at Concordia in just her second season of play. Mulvihill sits 77 kills shy of the mark with 923 while her 4.03 career kills per set rank first at CSP.