ST. PAUL, Minn. - The top-ranked Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (8-0) hosts sixth-ranked St. Cloud State for the home opener in the Gangelhoff Center on Tuesday night.
BUY TICKETS ONLINE – AVOID THE LINE!
Fans are encouraged to buy tickets in advance and bring your QR code to the gates to skip the line! New for 2023, Concordia will be a cashless ticket experience for fans, so if you don't purchase ahead, make sure to bring your card to make your purchase at the gate.
Friends and families who utilize the pass list will also be utilizing the online ticketing service, while faculty & staff will access their free CSP tickets through the service. CSP students will have their all-sport season passes sent directly to their csp.edu email address.
Fans do not need to create a login, remember a username or password or download an app to purchase tickets. BUY ONLINE
WATCH ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear NSIC volleyball games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, and supported by BlueFrame Technology.
Visit nsicnetwork.com/cspbears on a laptop or desktop computer, download the NSIC Network app on your mobile device or watch on your supported OTT provider such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Search "NSIC Network" and download the app for the league's full sport and team lineups. NSIC NETWORK FAQ
All home games will feature the play-by-play broadcasting provided by Dan Flanagan, the voice of the Golden Bears for over 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.
DOWNLOAD THE APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.
ST. CLOUD STATE HISTORY
This is the 35th meeting all-time in the series between the Golden Bears and the Huskies. CSP leads the all-time record of 32-2 after winning the first 27 matches from 2001-19. The Golden Bears won the next four matchups before losing in the conference championship last season. CSP followed up with a win in the Central Region Championship.
LAST MEETING VS ST. CLOUD STATE
The teams met three times last season. CSP won the first matchup 3-0, but St. Cloud State followed that up with a five-set victory in the conference championship. The Golden Bears were able to win the last matchup of the season in the Central Region Championship with a five-set victory, coming back from a 2-0 deficit (24-26, 17-25, 25-19, 25-21, 15-13).
Both teams were very similar statistically as CSP held slim advantages of .269-.275 in hitting percentage, 65-59 in kills, 69-60 in digs, 9.0-7.0 in blocks and each team had seven aces.
Teagan Starkey totaled 60 assists and 14 digs, which was her second match in a row against St. Cloud State where she had 60 assists. Jasmine Mulvihill led the Golden Bears with 13 kills and matched Ellie Sieling with a match-high 17 digs. Emma Schmidt, Katie Mattson and Sophia Andersen all tallied 11 kills. Kennedy Brady had 10 kills with a match-high seven blocks and a .429 hitting percentage.
LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears are coming off their eighth championship in the Colorado Premier Challenge, where many top Division II programs compete against each other annually in Denver. CSP defeated third-ranked Wayne State in five sets in the Gold Bracket Championship after defeating second-ranked West Texas A&M in the semifinals. The team also picked up victories over 24th-ranked Ferris State and Western Washington on day one of the challenge.
Starkey was named the MVP of the Colorado Premier All-Tournament Team. Starkey averaged 12.11 assists per set with 59 against West Texas A&M and 68 against Wayne State. The 68-assist performance is the NCAA Division II single-match high of the season. Mulvihill and Guptill both made the All-Tournament Team as well.
CSP has taken first place at the challenge in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2019 and now 2023. Five out of the seven prior Colorado Premier Challenge Championship teams for the Golden Bears went on to win the NCAA Division II National Championship.
IN THE POLLS
The Golden Bears move up to No. 1 in the AVCA poll following their strong performances at the Colorado Premier Challenge. CSP received 41 first-place votes. Concordia has been a mainstay near the top of the poll for over a decade as they did rank outside the top 10 for a single week from 2003 to 2022. Since the 2007 season, CSP has ranked No. 1 at least once in every season except 2019 and 2022.
CSP jumps West Texas A&M, who drops to No. 2 after receiving six first-place votes. Wayne State remains at third following the weekend's action. Around the rest of the NSIC, St. Cloud State ranks sixth, followed by Minnesota Duluth who tied for seventh and Southwest Minnesota State is at 11th.
STAT LEADERS
The Golden Bears rank at the top nationally and in the conference in many statistical categories.
Starkey leads the nation in assists per set with an average of 12.77. She also leads the nation in assists with 396. Andersen's .365 hitting percentage ranks her fifth in the conference and 49th nationally. She is also fifth in the conference in kills per set with 3.62.
Mulvihill's .316 hitting percentage pits her 15th in the conference and her 3.42 kills per set puts her at sixth. She is also seventh in the conference in points per set averaging 3.95. Schmidt is 12th in the conference in digs per set with 3.77.
