ST. PAUL, Minn. - The fourth-seeded #9 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (23-6) will face fifth-seeded Missouri Western (23-7) in the NCAA Central Region Tournament quarterfinal on Thursday evening at 4:30 p.m. in St. Cloud, Minn. on the campus of St. Cloud State.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets can be purchased in advance here.
Prices:
Adults: $12
Seniors & Students: $9
Youth (5-12): $6
Children (under 5): free

STREAMING INFORMATION
All 2024 NCAA Central Region Tournament matches will be streamed live on NSIC Network free of charge.

SERIES HISTORY VS THE FIELD
St. Cloud State: 34-6
Central Oklahoma: 2-0
Nebraska Kearney: 5-1
Missouri Western: 2-0
Washburn: 4-3
Southwest Minnesota State: 44-13
Ouachita Baptist: 0-0

LAST MEETING VS THE FIELD
St. Cloud State: L, 1-3 on Nov. 24, 2024 in St. Cloud, Minn.
Central Oklahoma: W, 3-0 on Nov. 30, 2017 in Marshall, Minn.
Nebraska Kearney: W, 3-2 on Nov. 18, 2022 in Wayne, Neb.
Missouri Western: W, 3-2 on September 6, 2024 in Golden, Colo.
Washburn: L, 0-3 on December 4, 2021 in Warrensburg, Mo.
Southwest Minnesota State: W, 3-2 on October 19, 2024 in Marshall, Minn.
Ouachita Baptist: N/A
 
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Golden Bears have made it into the NCAA Tournament field in all 21 seasons under head coach Brady Starkey and have won 12 Central Region titles during that span. CSP has gone 80-11 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 Central Region Tournament Championship, falling to Wayne State in four sets at the Gangelhoff Center.

The Golden Bears are 18-0 in regional quarterfinals, with two byes, and have won their first match all 20 prior years under Starkey. Concordia has reached the NCAA Region Championship (Sweet Sixteen) in every season except for 2014.

LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears were last active at the NSIC Tournament on the weekend of November 23-24, defeating #15 Wayne State in five sets in the semifinals on Saturday before falling to #2 St. Cloud State in four sets on Sunday in the championship match.

The Golden Bears filled up the box score in Saturday's win over Wayne State with five players setting career marks in various statistical categories.

Setter Teagan Starkey was spectacular on a night in which she was named the NSIC Outstanding Senior of the Year for volleyball in a pre-match ceremony, smashing her previous career high of 71 assists with a 75-assist, 11-dig double-double while adding a kill and a service ace. Her 75 assists are tied for second most in school history, trailing only a 77-assist effort by Amanda Konetchy also against Wayne State in 2013.

Senior Emma Schmidt registered her fifth consecutive double-double in the win, tallying a career-high 24 kills to go along with 14 digs and two service aces. Her 72 attack attempts rank as the fourth most in any match in school history.

Sophomore Mehlayna Straub had the finest night of her young career, surpassing her previous record of 16 kills with a 24-kill effort on a .370 hitting percentage.

Libero Cassie Sieling also had a career night, logging a new career-high 33 digs to go along with three set assists and a service ace. Her sister Ellie Sieling joined her in the career-topping performance club, finishing with a career-best 31 digs and a set assist.

In Sunday's loss to St. Cloud State, The Huskies opened the match with a pair of commanding wins, taking the opening set 25-18 and winning set two 25-17. It took extra points to decide a winner in set three, but the Golden Bears managed to outlast the Huskies for a 31-29 victory. The Huskies went on to claim a dominant 25-8 win in set four to take the match 3-1.

Following the match, Concordia's Teagan Starkey and Emma Schmidt were each named to the six-member All-NSIC Tournament Team

IN THE POLLS
The Golden Bears moved down one spot to #9 in the most recent AVCA Coaches Poll after falling to #2 St. Cloud State in the NSIC Tournament Championship match.  

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.

STAT LEADERS
Setter Teagan Starkey continues to be the top player in the nation at her position, leading Division II in both total assists (1,413) and assists per set (12.62) this season.

Middle blocker Claudia Stahlke also ranks highly at her position, leading the NSIC and ranking third in all of Division II with 152 total blocks. Her 1.36 blocks per set also pace the conference and sit 11^th in Division II while her .331 hitting percentage leads the team and ranks ninth in the NSIC.

The Golden Bear offense features a pair of top 10 hitters with Emma Schmidt ranking sixth in the NSIC in kills per set (3.16) and Sophia Andersen just behind her in seventh (3.14).

Libero Cassie Sieling ranks fifth in the NSIC in total digs this year (500) while her average of 4.46 digs per set is eighth best in the conference.

ALL-TIME RANKS
Sitting at 1,314 career kills after crossing the 1,000 mark earlier this season, Sophia Andersen is just 11 kills shy of entering the top ten in program history and 17 short of moving into ninth place all time. Emma Schmidt is also approaching the top 10, currently sitting 13^th with 1,277 kills. With 1,376 career digs, Schmidt currently sits ninth in school history.

Teagan Starkey is also nearing a milestone as she sits just 21 assists shy of 5,000 with 4,979 in her career. Already ranking in the top four in program history, Starkey would join an elite group of just three other players to top 5,000 set assists in their careers (Maggie McNamara, 7351, Cailin Terhaar, 6,724, and Amanda Konetchy, 6,189).