ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 7 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (16-4, 11-2 NSIC) will play three matches this week, including one on the road and two at home. The Golden Bears will play their final non-conference match of the season at #15 St. Cloud State (15-6) on Tuesday before returning to the Gangelhoff Center to host Northern State (15-6, 9-4 NSIC) and Jamestown (14-7, 7-6 NSIC) in NSIC play on Friday and Saturday.

DOWNLOAD THE APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up to date on Golden Bear athletics.

WATCH CONFERENCE MATCHES ONLINE - NSIC NETWORK
Starting with the 2026-27 season, Concordia and the NSIC will call Midco Sports Plus the streaming home for the NSIC Network. Midco Sports Plus, a regional cable provider primarily based in North Dakota, South Dakota, and parts of Minnesota, features an expanded variety of online sports coverage.
 
The NSIC Network will be part of a subscription service with annual access plans starting at under $7 per month for the full year ($79/year) or a monthly service for $15, which includes NSIC coverage as well as Summit League coverage.
 
Concordia's home broadcasts will continue to feature multiple cameras with instant replay, along with commentary from St. Paul-native Dan Flanagan, a graduate of Fordham University (N.Y.), where he covered multiple NCAA Division I sports teams on campus for the Rams, including football and basketball in the Patriot League. Flanagan has been the broadcast voice of the Golden Bears for nearly 20 years and called multiple national, regional, and conference championships.
 
For more information, view the NSIC's press release announcing the Midco Sports Plus partnership: https://cspbears.com/news/2026/7/16/athletics-midco-sports-launches-nsics-new-streaming-home.aspx
 
For streaming support and troubleshooting, visit Midco's support page: https://sports.midco.com/support

BUY TICKETS TO HOME GAMES ONLINE
Fans are highly encouraged to purchase tickets online at cspbears.com/tickets prior to game day. All ticketed events for the 2026-27 academic year will utilize the Vivenu online ticket platform found at that link, and fans must scan a mobile ticket to enter. Tickets will still be sold on site on game day, but purchases are card-only and include additional fees. The best way for fans to make their game day entry as smooth as possible is to purchase tickets online in advance. CSP Students, Faculty and Staff will be able to download their free passes through Vivenu.

NCAA POWER INDEX STANDINGS
The first iteration of the official NCAA Power Index rankings was released on Monday morning, with Concordia-St. Paul sitting sixth in the Central Region.

 At-large teams will be selected using the NCAA Power Index (NPI), the system that houses the division's statistical data and objectively applies the selection criteria to the data based on the sport committee's established weighted criteria. NPI will determine the at-large teams selected to the championship after the Automatic Qualifiers (AQ) have been designated through conference tournament championships.

Ranked sixth with an NPI of 63.00, Concordia is one of three NSIC teams in the top eight in the Central Region, as Wayne State (Neb.) sits in the top spot with an NPI of 71.143 and Southwest Minnesota State ranks fifth with an NPI of 63.984.

The NSIC, the Great American Conference (GAC), and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) make up the 41-team Central Region. There will be eight teams selected per region to make up the field of 64 teams. Regional competition will be single-elimination matches played on the final campuses of participating institutions during a three-day period. Participating teams will be seeded according to their NPI.

NPI rankings will be announced October 26, November 2 and November 9. NPI rankings will be pushed daily starting with the third ranking (Nov. 2). The NPI rankings used for selections will be posted after the selection show airs on NCAA.com. on November 15 at 9 p.m. (CT). For more information about NPI, click here.

IN THE POLLS
Following a 2-0 weekend,  the Golden Bears remained at No. 7 in the ninth American Volleyball Coaches Association Division II Poll of the season.

The Golden Bears collected 871 points in the poll. Undefeated Ferris State remains atop the poll with 1,174 points and 46 first-place votes, while NSIC foe Wayne State (Neb.) remained at No. 2 with 1,114 points.

The NSIC maintained five representatives in the poll, all of which sit in the top 20. Joining CSP and Wayne State from the NSIC are Southwest Minnesota State (#10, 707 points), St. Cloud State (#15, 497 points), and Minnesota Duluth (#20, 227 points).

Concordia has been a mainstay near the top of the poll for more than two decades, as it has ranked outside the top 10 for just eight weeks since 2003, never ranking below #15. The Golden Bears have ranked #1 at least once in 17 of the past 21 seasons. In total, CSP has spent an incredible 84 weeks as the top team in the country since debuting there in the 2004 preseason poll.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears went 2-0 in a pair of road matches with wins over UMary and Minot State.

In the win over UMary, The Golden Bears had a strong night at the service line, tallying 14 aces while limiting the Marauders to just one throughout the match. It marked Concordia's most aces in a match since October 7, 2022, when it had 16 in a sweep of Bemidji State.

Junior Makenna Nold paved the way with a 12-kill, 10-dig double-double, while senior Mehlayna Straub matched her with 12 kills and added a match-high four total blocks.

Sophomore Kaelyn Snoozy led the team with 14 digs and added three aces. Fellow sophomore Marta Leeland added five digs and recorded five service aces, tied for fifth most in a four-set match in school history.

In the sweep of Minot State, senior Mehlayna Straub shined in a prominent role for the CSP attack, logging 19 kills with no errors on 33 swings for a .576 hitting percentage. On defense, she tied for the team lead with three total blocks and chipped in a pair of digs.

Fellow senior Julia Gordon finished second on the team with 12 kills and added three blocks and three digs. Junior Makenna Nold neared a double-double with 14 digs and eight kills in the match.

Defensively, sophomore Kaelyn Snoozy led the team with 16 digs, while Marta Leeland finished with 10 digs. Junior Kelsey Cooper set a new career high with nine digs in the contest.

At setter, junior Audrey Waterman paced the offense with 24 assists and added nine digs. Reagan Hickey chipped in 12 assists and four digs for CSP.

STAT SHEET STANDOUTS
Junior Makenna Nold ranks second in the NSIC and ranks 19th in Division II with 4.56 points per set. Nold also ranks fourth in the conference in kills per set (3.70) and sits seventh in aces per set (0.41) and 16^th in blocks per set (0.77).

Junior Mehlayna Straub leads the team and ranks third in the NSIC with a .399 hitting percentage. Senior Kelsey Cooper ranks second on the team with a .342 hitting percentage, ninth best in the conference.

At setter, Audrey Waterman ranks 13^th in the NSIC with 6.13 assists per set, while Reagan Hickey sits close behind with 5.91 assists per set, good for 14^th in the conference.

As a team, the Golden Bears rank fourth in the NSIC with 2.11 blocks per set. Concordia also ranks fifth in the conference in assists per set (13.04), sixth in kills per set (13.84), and seventh in digs per set (15.86).

ST. CLOUD STATE SERIES HISTORY
Heading into Tuesday's meeting, Concordia holds an all-time record of 38-9 against the Huskies. When playing in St. Cloud, CSP has posted a mark of 14-6.

When the teams met earlier this season at the Gangelhoff Center on September 26, the Golden Bears secured a five-set win behind a 20-kill effort from Makenna Nold and a 20-dig match from Abby Rolbiecki.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
Ranked 15^th in the latest AVCA Poll, the Huskies enter the week with an overall mark of 15-6.

St. Cloud State boasts strong numbers on both offense and defense, as it ranks third in the conference in assists per set (13.30), fourth in digs per set (16.24), and fifth in kills per set (13.89).

Libero Laurin Hamann paces the team with 4.57 digs per set, third most in the NSIC this season. The SCSU offense is led by Shelby Kimm, who ranks 11^th in the conference with 3.26 kills per set. Setter Braya LaPlant sits fourth in the NSIC with 10.96 assists per set.
 
NORTHERN STATE SERIES HISTORY
In 52 prior matchups against the Wolves, Concordia has posted a record of 42-10. In matches at the Gangelhoff Center, Concordia has dominated the series with a mark of 26-4.

The teams met twice last season, with Concordia winning in four sets at home on September 20 and sweeping the Wolves on the road on Halloween.

SCOUTING THE WOLVES
The Wolves, who enter the week with an overall record of 15-6 and a mark of 10-3 in NSIC play, feature a potent offense led by a pair of dominant hitters in Linnea Nesheim and Katelyn Schroeder.

Nesheim leads the conference in both kills per set (4.00) and points per set (4.57), while Schroeder ranks second in kills per set (3.97) and third in points per set (4.39).

Setter Ava Nilsson has been the top setter in the country to this point, leading all of Division II with 11.73 assists per set.

On defense, the Wolves rank ninth in the conference in digs per set (15.30) and sit 13^th in blocks per set (1.59).

JAMESTOWN SERIES HISTORY
Concordia and Jamestown have met just three times in the history of the programs, with Concordia holding a 2-1 edge in the series. Concordia swept both matchups last season in Jamestown's first year as a member of NCAA Division II. The Jimmies' lone win over CSP came in 1999.

SCOUTING THE JIMMIES
Playing in just their second season in Division II after making the jump last year, the Jimmies have put together an impressive 14-7 record, including a 7-6 mark in conference play.

On offense, the Jimmies rank 10^th in the conference with 12.73 kills per set. Defensively, Jamestown ranks third in the Northern Sun in both digs per set (17.24) and blocks per set (2.24).

Libero Sophie Ketterling leads all players in the NSIC with 5.36 digs per set this season, and middle hitter Kyleigh Schopp paces the conference with 1.19 blocks per set. Gracie Adamson has been Jamestown's go-to on the attack, as she leads the team and ranks 10^th in the NSIC with 3.27 kills per set