ST. PAUL, Minn. – The top-seeded and second-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (30-3) fell to second-seeded and third-ranked Wayne State (31-2) in the NCAA Central Region Championship in four sets (25-27, 25-20, 23-25, 20-25) on Saturday night at Gangelhoff Center.
 
The Golden Bears dropped to 12-7 in region championship matches and 80-11 in NCAA Tournament play as they reached the region title match for the eighth season in a row and 19^th time in 20 seasons under head coach Brady Starkey. CSP finished the season with 30 wins for the 15^th time under Starkey as they reached the mark for the second year in a row.
 
The Wildcats won the season series 2-1 with the victory and claimed their second region crown in St. Paul, matching their feat in 2015.
 
The level of play was incredibly high on both sides of the net as Wayne State hit .360 with 60 kills while Concordia finished at .333 with 70 kills. CSP's 70 kills were tied for sixth-most in school history in the 25-point scoring format. The Golden Bears added a 63-56 edge in digs as well as a 9-4 edge in aces while WSC registered a 12.0-3.0 advantage in blocks.
 
Teagan Starkey spread the ball well as she tallied 63 assists, good for fifth-most in the 25-point scoring format in a four-set match. It was her fifth match with 60+ assists on the season and second in a row as she finished the season as the nation's leader in assists per set at 13.31.
 
Emma Schmidt paced the squad in kills and digs as she tallied 17 kills and 17 digs while hitting .485 on the night. It was her second double-double in a row and 14^th of the year as she finished the year with 1,086 career digs and 983 career kills.
 
Jasmine Mulvihill added her 13^th double-double of the year as she finished with 14 kills, 12 digs and a match-best four aces in the loss. The senior wraps up her illustrious career as the program's all-time leader in career kills per set (3.83) and points per set (4.52) while her 1,856 career kills trail only Emily Palkert's 1,898. She finishes as one of seven players in CSP history in the 1,000/1,000 club as she added 1,051 career digs.
 
Sophia Andersen matched Schmidt with a match-best 17 kills while Katie Mattson followed close behind with 16 kills and a .393 hitting percentage. Ellie Sieling added 15 digs in the loss.
 
Concordia's Teagan Starkey, Emma Schmidt, Jasmine Mulvihill and Katie Mattson earned NCAA Central Region All-Tournament Team honors as they were joined by Wayne State's Taya Beller, Kelsie Cada, Rachel Walker, Jordan McCormick and Maggie Brahmer as well as Central Missouri's Rachel Ziesman and Kersti Nix and Nebraska-Kearney's Peyton Neff.
 
Very little separated the two teams in the opening set as it featured 18 ties and seven lead changes throughout with extra points needed to break the deadlock. Neither team led by more than two points until a 6-2 run capped off by three points in a row turned a 16-15 deficit into a 21-18 lead for the Golden Bears. The Wildcats quickly responded with four points in a row, including three straight blocks, to regain the lead at 22-21. WSC reached set point first at 24-23, but CSP scored two in a row to force a set point of their own. Wayne State stormed back with three straight points to win the set 27-25.
 
The Wildcats carried the momentum into the second set as they scored three of the first four points before pushing their lead to three at 7-4 to force a quick CSP timeout. Concordia flipped the script two points later as they compiled a 5-1 run to grab a 10-9 advantage. From there, the Golden Bears maintained a slim lead for much of the rest of the set, eventually pushing it to three at 17-14 before WSC scored two in a row to pull back within one. CSP would not relinquish the lead, however, as they led by as many as they finished strong with three in a row to take the set 25-20.
 
Wayne State rebounded to start the third set as they scored the first three points before adding a 4-0 run to build an 11-5 edge. They further added to their lead with three points in a row to push it to seven at 15-8 before the Golden Bears fought their way back in the set with a 4-0 run of their own. Concordia continued their charge as another 4-1 burst closed the gap to one at 21-20, but they couldn't quite get over the hump as the Wildcats held on to take a 2-1 lead with a 25-23 set win.
 
WSC appeared poised for another strong start in the fourth set as they built a 4-1 lead with four straight points, but the Golden Bears turned things around with seven of eight to jump ahead at 8-5. The lead reached five at 15-10 following a 5-1 run as Concordia remained at that margin until the Wildcats rallied for a wild 10-0 run to win the set 25-20 and the match 3-1.