INDIANAPOLIS – The No. 6 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (26-5) earned an at-large bid as the second seed in the Central Region Tournament as the NCAA released the 2025 NCAA Division II Volleyball Tournament bracket on the selection show on Monday evening. The Golden Bears will face seventh-seeded Central Oklahoma (27-5) in the opening round of the tournament.
The Golden Bears, along with the rest of the Central Region field, will travel to Kearney, Nebraska as the University of Nebraska at Kearney was chosen as the region's top seed. This will mark CSP's third trip to Kearney for the regional tournament, with UNK previously serving as the host in both 2011 and 2019.
Concordia, who was ranked fourth in the final NCAA Region Rankings released last week, moved up two spots to the second seed after their run to the NSIC Tournament Championship match last weekend.
The Golden Bears have made it into the NCAA Tournament field in all 22 seasons under head coach
Brady Starkey and have won 12 Central Region titles during that span. CSP has gone 81-12 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 and 2017.
The tournament field is compiled of three teams from the NSIC, four from the MIAA and one from the GAC. Concordia is joined by third-seeded Wayne State and fourth-seeded St. Cloud State from the NSIC.
MIAA regular season and Tournament champions Nebraska-Kearney earned the tournament's top seed and are joined by fifth-seeded Missouri Western, sixth-seeded Washburn, and seventh-seeded Central Oklahoma from their conference. GAC Tournament champion eighth-seeded Oklahoma Baptist is the lone representative from the GAC.
This will be just the third NCAA Tournament meeting between CSP and Central Oklahoma, with Concordia sweeping the Bronchos in both the semifinals of the 2015 regional tournament and the quarterfinals of the 2017 regional tournament.
2025 NCAA Central Region Tournament quarterfinal pairings
Quarterfinals, Thursday, December 4 – Kearney, Neb.
TBA – No. 3 Wayne State (27-4) vs. No. 6 Washburn (26-4)
TBA – No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul (26-5) vs. No. 7 Central Oklahoma (27-5)
TBA – No. 4 St. Cloud State (26-6) vs. No. 5 Missouri Western (21-7)
TBA – No. 1 Nebraska-Kearney (29-3) vs. No. 8 Oklahoma Baptist (22-9)
Semifinals, Friday, December 5 – Kearney, Neb.
TBA – CSP/UCO winner vs. WSC/WU winner
TBA – UNK/OBU winner vs. SCSU/MWSU winner
Championship, Saturday, December 6 – Kearney, Neb.
TBA - Semifinal winners
