ST. PAUL, Minn. – The second-seeded #8 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (22-5) will face third-seeded #15 Wayne State (23-6) in the NSIC Tournament semifinals on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. on the campus of St. Cloud State.

IN-VENUE TICKETS
Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance of the tournament. The NSIC Tournament Weekend Pass is available for purchase in-person at the ticket booth on Saturday. The Tournament Weekend Pass is $23 for an adult and $8 for Student (Age 6-College), while single day tickets are $15 (Adult) and $5 (Age 6-College). 

NSIC NETWORK ACCESS
The NSIC semifinals and championship will be streamed on the NSIC Network for a charge of $10 per match or $15 for a tournament pass. Fans are encouraged to purchase access prior to the match as an account will need to be set up in order to access the matches. FAQ and troubleshooting information is available on the NSIC Network Help page. 

WAYNE STATE SERIES HISTORY
Concordia's win over WSU earlier this season improved CSP's all-time advantage over the Wildcats to 37-17. 2-3 In neutral site matchups, the Wildcats hold a 3-2 all-time edge. This will be just the third meeting between CSP and WSU in the NSIC Tournament, with Wayne State winning in 2014 and Concordia winning in 2017.

LAST MEETING VS WSU
When the Golden Bears last met the Wildcats on November 2, Concordia claimed a four-set win at the Gangelhoff Center.

The Golden Bears started strong with a 25-20 win in the opening set, but the Wildcats responded with a 25-20 win of their own in the second set. Concordia went on to take set three 25-18 and set four 25-21 to claim the 3-1 win.

The Golden Bear offense hit .258 with 70 kills as a unit, while the Wildcats hit just .188 with 42 kills. Concordia also finished with an 8-5 edge in blocks, a 9-3 advantage in service aces, a 79-69 edge in digs, and a 68-38 advantage in assists.

Libero Cassie Sieling had the strongest outing of her career, tallying 32 digs to top her previous high of 24 set twice earlier this season. The junior also added five assists and a pair of service aces. Her 32 digs are the sixth-most in a four-set match in program history and tied for the 15th-most in any match in Golden Bear history. 

Emma Schmidt was outstanding on both offense and defense, logging an 18-dig, 14-kill double-double for CSP.

Makenna Nold led the offense with 18 kills against just four errors on 40 attacks for a .350 hitting percentage. She was also an asset on defense, adding six block assists and six digs. Sophia Andersen was just behind her with 17 kills.

Claudia Stahlke and Mehlayna Straub added 10 kills each on .320 and .333 hitting, respectively, with Stahlke also leading the team with seven block assists.

Setter Teagan Starkey finished with a match-leading 61 set assists, also adding eight digs and three service aces.

NSIC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Entering the weekend, Concordia has gone 32-8 overall in the conference tournament in 15 previous trips. In those previous trips, CSP has reached the title match 11 times and has won seven titles (2004, 2005, 2006, 2015, 2016, 2019, and 2023). The Golden Bears have gone 11-3 in semfinal matches as they have advanced to at least the semifinals in all but two seasons.
 
Last season, Concordia swept Winona State in the opening round, defeated Minnesota Duluth in five sets in the semifinals, and swept St. Cloud State in the Championship to secure the seventh NSIC Tournament title in program history.

LAST TIME OUT
Concordia opened the NSIC Tournament with a four-set win over seventh-seeded Minnesota State on Tuesday at the Gangelhoff Center.

The Mavericks secured a 25-23 come-from-behind victory in the opening set, but the Golden Bears responded with a 25-18 win in set two to even the match. Concordia went on to secure a 26-24 win in set three and a 25-17 win in set four to win the match 3-1.

For the match, CSP outhit MSU .258 to .148 and held a 59-43 advantage in kills. Concordia also held edges in several other categories, including blocks (11-5), aces (12-9), assists (56-42), and digs (76-70).

Senior Emma Schmidt logged her fourth consecutive double-double in the win, finishing with 19 kills on .356 hitting to go along with 11 digs, three block assists, and three service aces.

Middle blocker Claudia Stahlke also reached double figures on offense, tallying 12 kills on .440 hitting and adding a match-high eight total blocks.

Sophia Andersen and Makenna Nold added nine kills and three total blocks each for Concordia while Mehlayna Straub contributed seven kills and two blocks.

Libero Cassie Sieling had a strong outing for CSP's back row, finishing with 27 digs, the second-highest output of her career. Ellie Sieling and Natalee Rolbiecki also finished in double figures on defense with 14 and 10 digs, respectively.

Setter Teagan Starkey finished the match with 53 set assists and seven digs.

IN THE POLLS
For the third week in a row, Concordia remained at #8 in the most recent AVCA Coaches Poll.

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 seven weeks since 2003, never ranking below #15. The Golden Bears have ranked #1 at least once in 16 of the past 19 seasons. In total, CSP has spent an incredible 84 weeks at the top team in the country since debuting there in the 2004 preseason poll.

NCAA REGION RANKINGS
In the third and final NCAA Region Rankings released last week, the Golden Bears fell one spot to #3 in the ten-team hierarchy.

The top eight teams in the region will advance to the NCAA region tournament on December 5-8.  Automatic bids are granted to the winners of the MIAA, GAC and NSIC postseason tournaments, with the remaining five spots awarded on an at-large basis. 

The NCAA Volleyball selection show will be streamed online on Monday, Nov. 25 at 6:30 p.m. (CT) on NCAA.com.

ALL-NSIC PICKS
Last week, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference released the 2024 Volleyball All-Conference Teams and Concordia-St. Paul's Makenna Nold was named Freshman of the Year while Sophia Andersen, Teagan Starkey, Emma Schmidt, and Nold were named to the First Team while Cassie Sieling and Claudia Stahlke were named to the Second Team.

For the third year in a row, the Golden Bears matched their program record set back in 2008 with six All-NSIC picks. CSP also extended their streak to 22 consecutive seasons with at least four all-conference picks as they have reached that mark every season since 2001.

STAT LEADERS
The reigning NSIC Setter of the Week, senior Teagan Starkey continues to be a national leader at her position, leading the NSIC and all of NCAA Division II with an average of 12.58 assists per set this season. The senior also leads Division II in total assists with 1,296.

Emma Schmidt leads the Golden Bears and ranks seventh in the NSIC with an average of 3.58 points per set this year, sitting fourth on the team with 259 kills and third on the team with 265 digs (3.15 per set).

Makenna Nold ranks second on the team and seventh in the conference with 3.53 points per set this season. Her 260 kills are third most on the team while her 86.0 total blocks also rank second on the roster.

Sophia Andersen has been Concordia's top offensive threat, leading the team with 313 kills (3.19 per set).

Claudia Stahlke also ranks highly on the Division II leaderboard, leading the conference and sitting fifth in the country with 142 total blocks. Her average of 1.38 blocks per set also leads the NSIC and is 12^th in Division II. Stahlke has also contributed on offense, ranking fifth on the team with 222 kills this season. Her .353 hitting percentage leads the team among those with at least 100 attacks.

Libero Cassie Sieling  leads the team and ranks fifth in the conference with 457 digs on the year while her average of 4.44 digs per set ranks eighth in the NSIC.

Mehlayna Straub ranks second on the team with 263 kills this season (2.58 per set) on a .278 hitting percentage. The sophomore has also made an impact for the Golden Bear defense, ranking third on the team with 61.0 total blocks.

Ellie Sieling has been an effective two-way player for the Bears, ranking second on the team with 276 digs (2.68 per set) and adding 131 kills (1.27 per set).