BURNSVILLE, Minn. – For the 17th time in the past 18 seasons, Concordia-St. Paul has been tabbed to finish first in the NSIC Preseason Volleyball Coaches Poll, as announced by the league on Wednesday.
The Golden Bears, coming off a season where they finished 31-6 and advanced to the NCAA Championship match, received eight first place votes to tally 190 points. The defending NSIC regular season champions of Wayne State were picked second with 189 points and had the other seven first place votes. Minnesota Duluth was third with 165 points while defending tournament champions of St. Cloud State were fourth with 154 points.
"This year's team excites me because I felt like we were really starting to find another level towards the end of last season and with most of our team back we are hopeful that we can continue that trend. With our team being so experienced they really have a great appreciation for how difficult our conference and region are and the grind that it takes to do well," said head coach
Brady Starkey.
Two-time AVCA All-America First Team pick
Jasmine Mulvihill has been named Concordia's player to watch for the 2023 season. The senior ranks seventh in program history with 1,472 kills while her 3.93 career kills per set slots in at the top.
Starkey said of Mulvihill, "Jaz has been a huge part of our offense her entire career and we will look to her to continue that this season. With other teams having to focus a lot of energy on defending her, it opens up our offense for other players to hit at a high efficiency. She also brings the competitive energy to our team that is infectious with her teammates."
CSP is scheduled to open the season at the Northern Michigan Open with four matches from Aug. 31-Sept. 2 before heading to Denver for the Colorado Premier Challenge the following weekend. The Golden Bears wrap up non-conference action at home on Sept. 12 as they play host to St. Cloud State before traveling to Wayne State and Augustana for the NSIC opening weekend on Sept. 15-16.
The 2023 NSIC Volleyball Tournament will be an eight-team tournament with the quarterfinals hosted at the top four seeds on Tuesday, November 14 and the semifinals/championship matches hosted at the highest remaining seed. The semifinals/championship matches will take place on two consecutive days between Friday and Sunday, November 17-19 with the dates of competition determined by the host institution.
#8 Jasmine Mulvihill (OH/RS, 5-11, Sr., Lakeville, Minn. / Lakeville South HS)
- Two-time AVCA All-America First Team
- 2022 D2CCA All-America Third Team
- 2021 AVCA All-America honorable mention
- Two-time AVCA All-Region First Team
- 2022 D2CCA All-Region First Team
- Three-time All-NSIC First Team
- Two-time NCAA Central Region All-Tournament Team
- Three-time Colorado Premier Challenge All-Tournament Team
- 2022 CSP/SCSU All-Tournament Team
- 2019 AVCA & NSIC Freshman of the Year
- 2019 D2CCA All-Region Second Team
- Seventh in program history with 1,472 kills
- First in program history with 3.93 career kills per set
