WARRENSBURG, Mo. - Seventh-seeded and #15th-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball (23-8) defeated second seed and #7 St. Cloud State (27-5) on Thursday afternoon at the 2021 NCAA Division II Central Region Volleyball Tournament quarterfinal played at the Multipurpose Building on the campus of the University of Central Missouri.

The Golden Bears dropped the first set before winning the next three (29-31, 25-16, 25-14, 25-17).

Concordia advances to the Central Region semifinal on Friday, December 3 at 5 p.m. against sixth-seeded and 12th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney (26-6).

The Golden Bears push their NCAA region quarterfinal record to 16-0 all-time and will compete in the NCAA region semifinals for the 18th consecutive season.

Under 18th-year head coach Brady Starkey, the Golden Bears improve to 72-8 in the NCAA Tournament with 18 consecutive appearances since Starkey took over the program in 2003.

Concordia is now 30-2 all-time against the Huskies and 2-0 against the Northern Sun's regular season and tournament champions this season.

Redshirt freshman right side Emma Schmidt (Maple Grove, Minn.) led the Golden Bears with 19 kills, 10 digs and three aces while hitting .359 for the match. She was one kill shy of her season-high while recording her eighth kills-digs double-double.

Senior libero Tori Hanson (Delano, Minn.) the NSIC Libero of the Year, led the team with 14 digs in a group that included four reaching double-figures. The back line kept the Huskies off balance to a .152 hitting percentage and 43 kills while the defense at the net produced nine total blocks (two solo) led by sophomore Katie Mattson's (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) five.

Freshman setter Teagan Starkey (Lakeville, Minn.) paced the offense with 26 assists while junior Ellie Veldman (Prior Lake, Minn.) added 20. The setter duo teamed up to lead an attack that hit .302 for the match with 60 kills in four sets, spreading the ball around as five different players had at least six kills and three reached double-figures.

The match started tight as neither team led by more than two points throughout the entire first set. St. Cloud State had the early upper hand with five leads of two in the first 10 points. Concordia claimed its first lead of the day at 11-10, and extended it to two at 13-11. It was one of just two leads by two points in the opening set for Concordia while SCSU had six.

Although the Huskies reclaimed the two point advantage at 16-14 by scoring five of six points, the Golden Bears took control late in the set with a 20-18 lead and took the first set point at 24-23. As the set continued, Concordia held three set points (24-23, 26-25, 27-26) while the Huskies also held three (25-24, 28-27, 29-28) before closing it out on their fourth set point, 31-29.

The Golden Bears wasted no time asserting themselves in the second set, scoring the first four points, the largest lead of the match and never trailed in the set, not allowing the Huskies to get closer than two, a 10-8 margin, en route to closing the set out 25-16.

In set three, St. Cloud State took the first point, their first lead since the opening set before Concordia rallied for four straight points punctuated by a Schmidt block. St. Cloud State answered with four straight to reclaim the early lead before Concordia put together three straight points for a 7-5 advantage.

Concordia didn't relinquish the lead from there in the third set, continuing to grow the lead - and momentum, to take a 2-1 lead.

The Golden Bears started the fourth set strong once again with the set's first three points and led throughout. After four straight points by the Golden Bears gave them a 9-3 lead following a kill and two aces by Schmidt, the Huskies were able to rally for a 4-0 run to trim the margin to 11-8. Another three point burst by SCSU brought the fourth set to a 14-12 CSP lead before back-to-back kills by junior Kennedy Brady (Lakeville, Minn.) closed out another 4-0 run for an 18-12 lead.

Brady finished with eight kills and only one attack error for a .333 hitting line.

St. Cloud State wouldn't come closer than four the rest of the way and Concordia closed out the match with the final four points, with Mattson and Veldman teaming up for a block on match point.