ST. PAUL, Minn. - The second-seeded No. 6 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (29-5) is headed to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in Sioux Falls, S.D. to face seventh-seeded Gannon (Pa.) (27-7) on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
The quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship match of the 2025 NCAA Division II women's volleyball championships will be held at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. from December 11-13. Concordia's quarterfinal match against Gannon is set for 1:30 p.m. on Thursday. Friday's semifinal matches will be played at 4 and 7 p.m., and Saturday's championship is set for 5 p.m.

TICKETS 
Tickets are available for sale on Ticketmaster. Tickets can be purchased as single-day tickets or three-day passes.

Prices (single day):
Adults: $18.10
Seniors: $10.95
College students: $13
Youth (3-17): $10.95
Children (under 2): Free
Prices (three-day pass):
$38.05

STREAMING INFORMATION
All 2025 NCAA DII Volleyball Championships matches will be streamed live on ESPN+. Live stats will be available on NCAA.com.

SERIES HISTORY VS THE FIELD
Tampa (Fla.): 10-5 overall, 4-1 in NCAA Tournament
Point Loma (Calif.): 0-0 overall, 0-0 in NCAA Tournament
MSU Denver (Colo.): 7-2 overall, 2-0 in NCAA Tournament
Wingate (N.C.): 2-0 overall, 1-0 in NCAA Tournament
Bentley (Mass.): 0-0 overall, 0-0 in NCAA Tournament
Gannon (Pa.): 1-1 overall, 0-0 in NCAA Tournament
Ferris State (Mich.): 2-3 overall, 0-0 in NCAA Tournament

LAST MEETING VS THE FIELD
Tampa (Fla.): L, 1-3 (9/7/2019)
Point Loma (Calif.): N/A
MSU Denver (Colo.): L, 2-3 (9/14/2024)
Wingate (N.C.): W, 3-0 (9/8/2013)
Bentley (Mass.): N/A
Gannon (Pa.): W, 3-1 (9/7/2024)
Ferris State (Mich.): L, 0-3 (9/13/2025)

NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Golden Bears have made it into the NCAA Tournament field in all 22 seasons under head coach Brady Starkey and have won 13 Central Region titles during that span. CSP has gone 84-12 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 2016-17.

Concordia captured its 13^th NCAA Central Region Title in Kearney, Neb. last week with sweeps of No. 11 Central Oklahoma and No. 7 Washburn and a five-set win over No. 5 St. Cloud State in the championship match.

CSP holds an all-time record of 11-1 in the national quarterfinals and is a perfect 11-0 in the national semifinals. In 11 trips to the national title match, Concordia is 9-2.

IN THE NEWS
KSTP Sports stopped by the Gangelhoff Center on Monday to chat with seniors Cassie and Ellie Sieling and Head Coach Brady Starkey about the upcoming trip to Sioux Falls. Click here to watch the full interviews. 

LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears closed out the NCAA Central Region Tournament last weekend with a dramatic five-set victory over No. 5 St. Cloud State on the campus of Nebraska-Kearney.

Sophomore Makenna Nold was sensational in what was otherwise a defensive struggle on both ends, setting a new career high with 26 kills on a .380 hitting percentage and adding 11 digs and five block assists. Freshman Kaelyn Snoozy also had a career night for CSP, setting a new career high with 18 kills on a .250 hitting percentage and adding three digs and a pair of block assists.

Senior libero Cassie Sieling was outstanding for Concordia's back row, logging a match-high 27 digs to go along with five set assists. Ellie Sieling was also a key contributor on defense with 20 digs and a block, while also adding five kills. Senior Natalee Rolbiecki also reached double figures on defense with 10 digs.

Middle blocker Kelsey Cooper set a new career high with eight total blocks, and junior Mehlayna Straub added 12 kills and three total blocks.

Setter Audrey Waterman tallied 31 assists to pace the CSP offense, and sophomore Reagan Hickey added 23 assists and seven digs.

As a group, CSP hit .165 with 63 kills and 33 errors on 182 total swings, while St. Cloud State was limited to just .113 hitting with 54 kills and 33 errors on 186 attacks. Concordia also led in digs (86-78), assists (61-49), aces (3-0), and total blocks (11-10).

The Golden Bears worked out to an early 3-0 lead in the opening set and rode a narrow advantage before the Huskies took their first lead at 12-11. The teams traded blows the rest of the way in a set that contained 11 ties and five lead changes, but back-to-back attack errors from CSP were enough for St. Cloud State to claim a 25-23 set win.

Tied at 17 each in the second set, Concordia claimed the next three points to take a 20-17 lead that would hold for the remainder of the set. The Golden Bears finished the frame on a 5-2 run punctuated by a kill from Snoozy.

The Golden Bears worked out to an early 9-6 lead in the third set and never looked back, leading by as many as eight on the way to 25-18 win to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Bears dominated the set statistically, hitting .367 with 13 kills while SCSU hit .079 with 11 kills.

Concordia once again built an early 11-6 lead in the fourth set and remained in the driver's seat with a 19-15 edge late, but the Huskies responded in a big way with a 10-1 run to win it 25-20 and send the match to a decisive fifth set.

In the final set, CSP raced out to an early 4-1 lead and looked to be in control, but a six-point run by the Huskies followed immediately to turn the tables and give SCSU a 7-4 lead. The Golden Bears regrouped from there, winning six of the next seven points to regain the advantage at 10-8. The Huskies got within one  at 10-9 and remained within two at 12-10 shortly after, but Snoozy came through once again with a pair of clutch kills in the final three points to push CSP over the edge and give the Bears a 15-10 win.

IN THE POLLS
The Golden Bears moved down one spot to No. 6 in the most recent AVCA Coaches Poll. CSP received 907 votes in the poll, trailing No. 5 St. Cloud State by 13 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 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.

ALL-REGION SELECTIONS
Both the American Volleyball Coaches Association and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association released their 2025 All-Region Teams last week, and Concordia-St. Paul's Makenna Nold was named both the AVCA Central Region Player of the Year and the D2CCA Central Region Player of the Year while Mehlayna Straub was named AVCA All-Region Honorable Mention and D2CCA All-Region Second Team. 

Nold is the sixth Concordia player to be named D2CCA Central Region Player of the Year, and the first since Megan Carlson in 2011. 

ALL-NSIC PICKS
On November 13, 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
Central Region Player of the Year Makenna Nold remains atop the conference leaderboard in both kills per set (4.28) and points per set (5.18), with both marks ranking in the top 14 in all of Division II. The sophomore also sits fourth in the league in aces per set (0.42) and 12^th in blocks per set (0.87)

Defensively, senior libero Cassie Sieling leads the team with 4.30 digs per set, seventh-most in the NSIC. She also sits fourth in total digs (499) and ranks in the top nine in the conference with 0.39 aces per set.

Senior Ellie Sieling continues to be a key two-way player for the Golden Bears, ranking second on the team and 11th in the conference with 3.52 digs per set while averaging 2.73 kills per set, the third-best mark on the team.

Sophomore Reagan Hickey has paced the Golden Bear offense with an average of 7.06 assists per set, good for eighth most in the NSIC. Redshirt freshman Audrey Waterman also ranks in the top nine in the conference with an average of 6.29 assists per set.
 
Sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Cooper ranks eighth in the NSIC with 0.96 blocks per set, while junior Mehlayna Straub ranks 12th in the conference with 0.87 blocks per set, while also contributing 2.89 kills per set, second most on the team.

As a team, the Golden Bears lead the NSIC in points per set (18.75) and assists per set (13.82) while ranking second in kills per set (14.73) and aces per set (1.91). Concordia also paces the conference and ranks fourth in all of Division II with a .287 hitting percentage.