Volleyball to battle Concordia-St. Paul in NCAA Regional

WARRENSBURG, MO. - It is time.

After 12 weekends of matches, 27 wins and four losses, the second season is set to begin for the St. Cloud State University volleyball team. The #7 Huskies will open their NCAA Tournament run on Thursday, December 2, as they face Concordia-St. Paul in the first round of the NCAA Regional at 2:30 p.m. CT in Warrensburg, Missouri.

St. Cloud State and Concordia-St. Paul were two of three teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) selected to participate in the NCAA Regional this weekend and will be joined by Winona State at the University of Central Missouri for the three-day tournament. The Huskies earned the conference's automatic bid and the No. 2 seed in the regional after winning the NSIC Tournament two weeks ago in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Golden Bears and Warriors both received at-large bids, with Winona State serving as the No. 4 seed and Concordia-St. Paul the No. 7 seed.

Should St. Cloud State beat Concordia-St. Paul on Thursday, the team will advance to play either Northwest Missouri State or Nebraska-Kearney at 5:00 p.m. CT on Friday, December 3. The regional championship match will take place at 7:00 p.m. CT on Saturday, December 4.

Tickets for the regional can be purchased on Central Missouri's athletic site until the start of the match Thursday afternoon. Tickets will be $10 for adults, $3 for seniors, students and any children ages 2-17, and all children under the age of two will get in free. Tickets are good for the entire day.

Fans who cannot make the trek to Warrensburg, Missouri can watch the Huskies in a variety of ways. Live stats and a video stream will be available for all matches during the NCAA Regional, and KVSC will cover the team during the tournament as well. Score updates will be made to the team's official Twitter account (@scsuhuskies_vb) during matches as well.

Here are the five things to know before Thursday's NCAA Regional match:

2019 - This will be St. Cloud State's second consecutive trip to the NCAA Regional, as the team received an at-large bid back in 2019. The Huskies also faced an NSIC opponent in 2019 as well, as they traveled to Nebraska-Kearney to face Northern State in the 4 vs. 5 seed match up. Despite a hard fought match, St. Cloud State fell to the Wolves 3-0 (22-25, 23-25, 23-25).

1 - St. Cloud State lost just one match during the NSIC season, and it was to none other than Concordia-St. Paul. The Golden Bears handed the Huskies a 3-1 (22-25, 35-33, 14-25, 24-26) loss in Halenbeck Hall on October 1, which was the lone conference loss St. Cloud State would suffer in 2021. The Huskies did make history in the match, though. The 35-33 second set victory counts as the longest set in St. Cloud State history, and the 35 points are the most scored in a single-set in program history.

17 - Since the loss to Concordia-St. Paul on October 1, the Huskies have won 17 consecutive matches, allowing them to claim both the NSIC Regular and Postseason titles. The 17-match win streak is the longest in program history, as the previous mark was set at 14 back in 1985. St. Cloud State additionally became the first NSIC team since 2017 to win both the regular season and NSIC tournament titles in the same year, and the last team to do so was none other than conference rival Minnesota-Duluth.

1, 4, 6, 7, 10, 12, 15 - St. Cloud State earned the #7 ranking in the latest top-25 poll, the team's highest ranking since the 1996 season, but the Huskies won't be the only ranked team playing in Warrensburg, Missouri this upcoming weekend. Of the eight teams at the NCAA Regional this weekend, seven were ranked in the AVCA's top-25 poll last week. Host Central Missouri is the #1 ranked team in the nation entering the NCAA Tournament, while Northwest Missouri State and Washburn were ranked #4 and #6 in the nation respectively. Winona State earned the #10 ranking, while both Nebraska-Kearney (#12) and Concordia-St. Paul (#15) were both ranked in the top-25 respectively.

10/11/6 - The Huskies have won 27 matches this year, a mark the program last met in 1995. Of the 27 matches, St. Cloud State won 10 in the third set, 11 in the second and six in the fifth and posted a perfect 6-0 record in five set matches this season. Of their four losses, the Huskies lost three in the third set and only one in the fourth (the aforementioned conference loss to the Golden Bears on October 1).

Saint Cloud State University Athletics

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