ST. PAUL, Minn. – The top-seeded #5 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (24-4) will host eighth-seeded Minnesota Duluth (18-9) in the NSIC Tournament quarterfinals at the Gangelhoff Center on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

NSIC TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
The Golden Bears clinched a share of their 15th NSIC regular season title over the weekend, earning the tournament's top seed over co-champion Wayne State via the conference's tie-breaking procedures. With a win on Tuesday, the Golden Bears would host the remainder of the NSIC Tournament on Friday and Saturday. 

Tuesday's quarterfinal matches will be streamed free of charge on the NSIC Network. The semifinals and championship will be streamed on the NSIC Network for a charge of $10 per match or $15 for a tournament pass. 

Tickets are available online at cspbears.com/tickets. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students while children ages 5 and under are free. CSP student-athlete passes and all-sports passes are NOT valid for any NSIC Tournament games. Thanks to a partnership with CSP Student Life, the first 100 CSP students will get in free with a valid student ID on Tuesday.

MINNESOTA DULUTH SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday's match will mark the second consecutive meeting between the two teams as Concordia wrapped up the regular season with a match at UMD last Saturday. The Bears hold a 37-30 all-time record against the Bulldogs, including a mark of 37-27 in the Division II era. CSP has dominated the series in recent years, winning 11 straight over UMD dating back to 2019.

The two teams have met a total of six times in the NSIC Tournament in prior seasons, with Concordia holding a record of 5-1 in those matches, including wins in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022, and 2023, while the lone loss came in 2013.

LAST MEETING VS UMD
The Golden Bears closed out the regular season with a match at Minnesota Duluth last Saturday, defeating the Bulldogs in five sets to clinch a share of the NSIC title for the 15^th time in program history.

The Golden Bears battled through a tight, momentum-shifting match that featured 22 ties and 12 lead changes across the five sets. CSP finished with 71 kills on .304 hitting while limiting the Bulldogs to .244 hitting with 62 kills on the day. Concordia also held advantages in assists (66–54), digs (79–66), blocks (7–6), and aces (10–8).

Senior defensive specialist Natalee Rolbiecki reached a massive career milestone in the match, leading all players with 22 digs to push her over 1,000 for her career. The senior has logged 439 digs in two seasons at CSP after transferring from Southwest Minnesota State, where she had 575 digs in the first two years of her career, putting her at a total of 1,014. Libero Cassie Sieling was also strong in the back row for CSP, finishing with 16 digs and six assists.

Sophomore Makenna Nold led the Golden Bears with 18 kills, also adding nine digs, two aces, and a block for 21 points. Senior Ellie Sieling delivered another impactful performance with 15 kills, 12 digs, two blocks, and an ace, while freshman Kaelyn Snoozy was highly efficient with 15 kills on .423 hitting. Junior Mehlayna Straub added 11 kills on .391 hitting, while sophomore Kelsey Cooper turned in a massive performance with 12 kills, five digs, and three aces while hitting at a .647 clip.

CSP's two setters put together another outstanding performance to pace the offense, with Reagan Hickey dishing out 31 assists and eight digs, while Audrey Waterman added 24 assists and two digs.

NSIC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Entering this year, Concordia has gone 32-9 overall in the conference tournament in 16 previous trips. In those previous trips, CSP has reached the title match 12 times and has won seven titles (2004, 2005, 2006, 2015, 2016, 2019, and 2023). The Golden Bears have gone 14-2 in opening-round matches, advancing to at least the semifinals in all but two seasons.
 
Last season, Concordia defeated Minnesota State in four sets in the opening round and topped Wayne State in five sets in the semifinals before falling to top-seeded St. Cloud State in the NSIC Championship.

IN THE POLLS
The Golden Bears moved into the top five in the most recent AVCA Coaches Poll for the first time since week two of the 2024 season, coming in at No. 5 with a total of 975 points.

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 12 weeks since 2003, never ranking below #15. The Golden Bears have ranked No. 1 at least once in 16 of the past 20 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.

ALL-NSIC PICKS
Last Wednesday, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference released the 2025 Volleyball All-Conference Teams and Concordia-St. Paul's Makenna Nold was named NSIC Player of the Year while Head Coach Brady Starkey was named Coach of the Year. Nold, Cassie Sieling, Ellie Sieling, and Mehlayna Straub were named All-NSIC First Team while Kaelyn Snoozy was named to the Second Team.

With five All-NSIC picks, CSP extends its streak to 23 consecutive seasons with at least four all-conference selections as they have reached that mark every season since 2002.

Nold's NSIC Player of the Year selection is the seventh in CSP volleyball history, joining Joy Wubben (2004), Jessica Lucia (2005, 2006), Maggie McNamara (2008, 2009), and Megan Carlson (2011).  

Starkey has now been named NSIC Coach of the Year seven times, previously earning the honor in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2017.

STAT SHEET STANDOUTS
At the conclusion of the regular season, NSIC Player of the Year Makenna Nold remains atop the conference leaderboard in both kills per set (4.31) and points per set (5.23) with both marks ranking in the top 13 in all of Division II. The sophomore also sits fifth in the league in aces per set (0.43).  

Defensively, senior libero Cassie Sieling leads the team with 4.15 digs per set, seventh-most in the NSIC. Senior Ellie Sieling continues to be a key two-way player for the Golden Bears, ranking second on the team and 12th in the conference with 3.31 digs per set while averaging 2.91 kills per set, the second-best mark on the team.

Sophomore Reagan Hickey has paced the Golden Bear offense with an average of 7.35 assists per set, good for eighth-most in the league. Redshirt freshman Audrey Waterman also ranks in the top nine in the conference with an average of 6.30 assists per set.
 
Sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Cooper ranks 10^th in the NSIC with 0.88 blocks per set, while junior Mehlayna Straub ranks 13th in the conference with 0.83 blocks per set while also contributing 2.88 kills per set.

As a team, the Golden Bears lead the NSIC in several key categories, including points per set (19.00), kills per set (14.86), and assists per set (13.86), while leading all of Division II with a .301 hitting percentage.