ST. PAUL, Minn. - The top-seeded #2 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (28-2) will face eighth-seeded Oklahoma Baptist (22-8) in the NCAA Central Region Tournament quarterfinal on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. at Gangelhoff Center.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets are for sale online at cspbears.com/tickets. CSP accepts credit cards only for ticket sales.

Please note: group ticket sales are not available for the Central Region Tournament.

All Gangelhoff Center seating is general admission. Gates open 1 hour prior to the start of the first match. Tickets purchased are for each round.

Adults: $12
Seniors & Students: $9
Youth (5-12): $6
Children (under 5): free

STREAMING INFORMATION
A new NCAA Championships Pass application will be available on Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV and Google TV devices as well as mobile apps and traditional computer streaming options.

Fans will have two viewing options for volleyball: $9.95 per contest, and $29.95 for all Division II women's volleyball matches.

Read more about the NCAA Division II partnership with Hudl for 2023 postseason streaming.

Concordia will stream games with multiple camera angles, instant replay, along with play-by-play from Dan Flanagan, the voice of the Golden Bears for more than a decade. The St. Paul, Minnesota native studied broadcasting at Fordham University (N.Y.) where he was the voice of the Rams' football and basketball teams in the NCAA Division I Patriot League. He'll be joined by commentator Dennis "Aame" Amundson, former head coach of Minnesota State University, Mankato volleyball.

SERIES HISTORY VS THE FIELD
Oklahoma Baptist: 1-0
Central Missouri: 9-0
St. Cloud State: 34-4
Southwest Minnesota State: 43-27-1
Nebraska-Kearney: 5-1
Wayne State (Neb.): 36-18
Minnesota Duluth: 34-30

LAST MEETING VS THE FIELD
Oklahoma Baptist: W, 3-0 on Aug. 27, 2022 in St. Paul, Minn.
Central Missouri: W, 3-0 on Sept. 1, 2018 in Denver, Colo.
St. Cloud State: W, 3-0 on Nov. 19, 2023 in Wayne, Neb.
Southwest Minnesota State: W, 3-0 on Nov. 11, 2023 in Marshall, Minn.
Nebraska-Kearney: W, 3-2 on Nov. 18, 2022 in Wayne, Neb.
Wayne State (Neb.): L, 0-3 on Sept. 15, 2023 in Wayne, Neb.
Minnesota Duluth: W, 3-2 on Nov. 18, 2023 in Wayne, Neb.
 
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Golden Bears have made it into the NCAA Tournament field in all 20 seasons under head coach Brady Starkey and have won 12 Central Region titles during that span. CSP has gone 78-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and has collected nine NCAA Division II National Championships, with seven in a row from 2007-13 before claiming two more in 2016-17. Last season, Concordia advanced to the NCAA Championship match, falling to West Texas A&M in four sets, the second national runner-up in program history (2003, 2022).

The Golden Bears are 17-0 in regional quarterfinals, with two byes, and have won their first match all 19 years under Starkey. Concordia has reached the NCAA Region Championship (Sweet Sixteen) every season with the exception of 2014. Prior to being tabbed as this year's host, CSP previously hosted six times in seven years from 2003-09 (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009) as well as three times in five years from 2012-16 (2012, 2015, 2016).

LAST TIME OUT
Back on Nov. 19, the Golden Bears claimed their seventh NSIC Tournament Championship with a sweep of St. Cloud State at Rice Auditorium on the campus of Wayne State.

Concordia once again put up a formidable block as they cleared double figures in blocks for the eighth time on the season and third consecutive match in the tournament. Their total of 13.0 blocks were their second most in a three-set match this season and tied for 13th most in school history. CSP used their 13.0-2.0 edge in blocks to register a .340-.183 edge in hitting percentage in the match. The Golden Bears also outpaced the Huskies 46-38 in kills and 6-4 in aces.
 
CSP's two middles led the way in the blocking effort as Katie Mattson collected seven blocks and Jamie Guptill put up six. It was Mattson's fourth match in a row with at least five blocks and third with six or more while Guptill made it back-to-back matches with at least six. Mattson matched Emma Schmidt for the team lead with 11 kills as she hit .529 while Guptill tallied nine kills and a .571 hitting percentage.
 
Schmidt put up her 13th double-double of the season as she added a match-high 11 digs to her 11 kills as well as two aces on the afternoon. Jasmine Mulvihill followed with nine kills, four digs and a pair of blocks. Teagan Starkey finished with 39 assists, four blocks and three digs in the win.

IN THE POLLS
After claiming the NSIC Tournament crown, CSP moved back up to #2 after spending the previous four weeks at #4. Concordia has been a mainstay near the top of the poll for nearly two decades as they have ranked outside the top-10 for just three weeks since 2003, never ranking below #15. The Golden Bears have ranked #1 at least once in 16 of the past 18 seasons, including week two of this year. In total, CSP has spent an incredible 84 weeks at the top team in the country since debuting there in the 2004 preseason poll.

AWARD WINNERS
With awards season in full swing, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference released the 2023 Volleyball All-Conference Teams and Concordia-St. Paul had Sophia Andersen, Teagan Starkey, Jasmine Mulvihill, Katie Mattson and Emma Schmidt named to the First Team while Jamie Guptill was named to the Second Team.

In addition, the Golden Bears had Starkey earn D2CCA All-Region First Team honors while Jasmine Mulvihill was named to the Second Team.

More awards will be released over the coming days and weeks.

STAT LEADERS
So far this season, the Golden Bears rank near the top of the NSIC in several statistical categories.

Teagan Starkey's 13.07 assists per set rank first in the country as she has guided the offense to a nation-leading 15.26 kills per set and .322 hitting percentage through 30 matches. The Golden Bears also have two of the top 10 in kills per set in the NSIC as Jasmine Mulvihill ranks fifth (3.53) and Sophia Andersen ranks 10th (3.35). Mulvihill and Andersen also rank fourth (4.12) and 11th (3.70), respectively, in points per set while Mulvihill and Andersen also rank 10th (.331) and 12th (.314), respectively, in hitting percentage.

Jamie Guptill has paced the squad with a .408 hitting percentage, good for second in the league and 10th in the nation, while Katie Mattson also ranks eighth in the league (.340). Payton Stier ranks 12th with 0.36 aces per set and Emma Schmidt ranks 14th with 3.45 digs per set.

ALL-TIME RANKS
After surpassing 1,000 career kills in the opening weekend of the 2022 season, Jasmine Mulvihill has continued to climb the ranks at CSP. Her 1,821 career kills rank second in program history as she is 77 behind Emily Palkert in first. Mulvihill's 3.84 career kills per set are 0.09 ahead of Jill Kalvik in second place while her 4.53 points per set are 0.10 ahead of Kalvik. The senior also became the 22nd member of the 1,000 dig club and seventh member of the 1,000/1,000 club a few weeks ago  at SMSU as she is up to 1,027 career digs.

Junior Emma Schmidt also reached the 1,000 dig club in the final week of the regular season as she sits at 1,040. She also sits 58 kills away from the 1,000 kill club with 942 while junior Sophia Andersen has compiled 935 kills.