KEARNEY, Neb. – Central Oklahoma will make its eighth appearance in the NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship this week when the No. 11-ranked Bronchos compete in the rugged Central Regional.
UCO, 27-5 on the season, is the No. 7 seed and will take on second-seeded and No. 6-ranked Concordia-St. Paul (26-5) at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the second of four first-round matches at the Health and Sports Center on the campus of host Nebraska-Kearney.
"We're looking forward to being back in the national tournament and are excited about the challenge ahead of us," head coach Edgar Miraku said. "This is by far the toughest region in the country, so we will have to be at our absolute best.
"I'm really proud of our players for all the obstacles they've overcome this year with the injuries we've had. They've worked extremely hard all year and have shown how resilient they are."
Seven of the eight teams in the Central Region are ranked in the top 17 nationally, including five in the top seven. The Central Region is made of teams from the Mid-America Athletics Association (MIAA), the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and the Great American Conference (GAC).
Other regional quarterfinal matches Thursday have third-seeded and No. 4-ranked Wayne State (27-4) playing sixth-seeded and No. 7-rated Washburn (26-4) at 11 a.m., fourth-seeded and No. 5-ranked St. Cloud State (26-6) meeting fifth-seeded and No. 17-rated Missouri Western (21-7) at 4:30 p.m. and the top-seeded and No. 2-ranked Lopers (29-3) going against No. 8 seed Oklahoma Baptist (22-9) at 7 p.m.
Semifinal matches Friday will have the WSU/WU-UCO/CSP winners playing at 4 p.m. before the SCSU/MWSU-UNK/OBU winners face off at 7 p.m. The semifinal winners collide for the regional title at 5 p.m. Saturday.
The Bronchos captured the Central Region title for the first time last season, beating Southwest Minnesota, Washburn and host St. Cloud State – all in five sets – to take the title.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL TOURNEY: Sixty-four teams earned bids into the single-elimination national tournament, with eight-team regionals to be held at eight different sites around the country this weekend.
The regional champions advance to Sioux Falls, S.D. Dec. 11-13 for the national quarterfinals. Lynn is the defending national champion, beating San Francisco State 3-2 in last year's final.
UCO IN NATIONAL PLAYOFFS: The Bronchos are 6-7 in seven previous national tournament appearances.
UCO first qualified in 1994, beating West Texas A&M in the first round before losing to host Central Missouri in the finals of the South Central Regional.
The Bronchos lost to Nebraska-Kearney in the first round of the Southwest Regional in Canyon, Teas in 2002 and fell to Abilene Christian in the opening round of the 2005 Southwest Regional hosted by UNK.
UCO went back to Kearney for the 2007 Southwest Regional, sweeping Fort Lewis in the first round before dropping a four-set decision to the Lopers in the semifinals.
The Bronchos swept UNK in the opening round of the Central Regional in 2015 and then lost to host Concordia-St. Paul in the semifinals. UCO fell to the Bears again in the first round of the 2017 Central Regional in Marshall, Minn.
Central won its first-ever regional title last year in St. Cloud, Minn. The Bronchos pulled out thrilling five-set wins over Southwest Minnesota, Washburn and the host Huskies to advance to the Elite Eight, dropping a five-set heartbreaker to eventual runner-up San Francisco State in their first match there.
UCO VS. NATIONAL FIELD: The Bronchos have played six teams in the national tournament field this year, owning a 3-4 record against them.
UCO swept No. 20-ranked Ferris State of the Midwest Region, Oklahoma Baptist of the Central Region and Fairmont State of the Atlantic Region in the first two weeks of the season before going 0-4 against MIAA rivals Nebraska-Kearney, Missouri Western and Washburn.
The Bronchos lost to the Lopers on the road in the regular season and in the semifinals of the MIAA Championship while falling in four sets to MWSU at home and in four sets to the Ichabods on the road.
SEASON RECAP: UCO opened the season in impressive fashion, starting 17-0 with 15 sweeps – three coming against national tournament qualifiers – and two 3-1 wins in rising to No. 1 in the nation for the first time ever.
The Bronchos suffered their first loss on Oct. 4 at home to league rival Central Missouri and ended up going 12-4 in the rugged MIAA to tie for third in the final standings. UCO went 1-1 in the MIAA Tournament, sweeping No. 23-ranked Emporia State in the first round before losing to eventual champion Nebraska-Kearney in the semifinals.
Central is 21-1 in three-set matches, 3-4 in four-set matches and 3-0 in five-set matches this season.
ABOUT THE COACH: The Bronchos are under the direction of 13th-year head coach Miraku, who enters the regional with a stellar 329-98 career record as the winningest coach in program history.
UCO has had six seasons with 30-plus wins in its history and Miraku has been at the helm for three of those – 2015 (31), 2016 (30) and 2024 (school-record 33). He's had five other seasons with 25-plus wins.
Miraku has also led the Bronchos to four of its eight national tournament appearances (2015, 2017, 2024 and 2025).
OFFENSIVE ATTACK: Central Oklahoma owns a .229 team attack percentage and ranks in the top 20 nationally in four team offensive categories – seventh in attacks per set (40.19), 13th in assists per set (13.20), 16th in kills per set (14.06) and 19th in total assists (1,439).
Eight players have at least 111 kills on the season, including three with 210 or more.
Senior Mikiah Perdue leads the way with 320 kills (2.94/set) and a .293 attack percentage, having hit .400 or better 10 times. She's one of two players on the team who have played all 109 sets this season and has had 10-plus kills in 15 matches with a high of 18 coming in a win over Southwestern Oklahoma.
Senior Sydney Huck is hitting .261 with 294 kills despite missing eight matches to injury. Her 3.92 kill per-set average leads the MIAA and she's had 17 matches with double-digit kills, led by a 21-kill outing in a win over Northwest Missouri.
Huck has registered 10-plus kills in 77 career matches and ranks seventh on UCO's all-time kills list with 1,427. She's also 10th in career attacks with 3,827.
Senior Kedron Burk is hitting .275 with 210 kills (2.33/set). She's had nine matches with at least 10 kills, topped by a 15-kill performance in a sweep of national qualifier Ferris State.
Other players with at least 111 kills are freshman Kamryn Glover (160), senior Lari Migliorino (121), juniors Sawyer Franz and Riley Roberts (119) and freshman Myla Unterweger (111).
Senior Lindsey Houran directs UCO's offensive attack, ranking 10th nationally in assists per set (11.22) and 13th in total assists (1,189). She's had 40-plus assists in 58 matches during her career and ranks third on the school's all-time assists list with 5,081.
The Bronchos have served up 187 aces, with junior Kaitlyn Parrott's 47 leading the way. Houran has added 27 and Glover 26 despite having missed 12 matches to injury.
DEFENSIVE PRESENCE: UCO also showcases a strong defense, both in the back row and at the net.
The Bronchos rank second in Division II in digs per set (20.06) and 10th in total digs (2,186) while having also recorded 203 total blocks (82 solo, 242 assisted).
Four players have 235-plus digs, paced by Parrott with 620. She ranks sixth nationally in digs per set (5.69) and seventh in total digs and has had 15 matches with at least 20 digs this season.
Roberts has dug up 397 attacks (3.78/set), while Houran has 376 digs (3.55/set) and freshman Morgan Manning 235 (2.24/set).
Perdue leads the team in both solo (30) and assisted (61) blocks, having had at least three in 18 matches this year. Burk is second in both solo (21) and assisted (44) blocks.
UCO ON THE ROAD: The Bronchos have played 19 of their 32 matches away from home this season with eight neutral-site contests and 11 true road matches.
UCO is 9-2 on the road, the only losses coming to Central Region participants Nebraska-Kearney and Washburn. The Bronchos are 7-1 in neutral-site matches, the lone loss coming to UNK in the MIAA Tournament semifinals.
ALL-MIAA TEAM: Central Oklahoma had four players nab First-Team All-MIAA honors, with Huck named Hitter of the Year and Parrott Libero of the Year.
Huck and Parrott were joined on the First-Team unit by Houran and Perdue. Migliorino and Roberts were Honorable Mention selections.
Houran and Huck became just the seventh and eighth players in program history to earn All-Conference recognition four times. Those two were also selected to the MIAA All-Tournament Team.
SERIES RECORDS: The Bronchos have played all seven other teams in the Central Regional.
UCO leads the all-time series against Missouri Western (20-8), Oklahoma Baptist (8-5), St. Cloud State (2-0) and Wayne State (2-1) while trailing Concordia-St. Paul (2-0), Nebraska-Kearney (24-8) and Washburn (18-15).
ABOUT CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL: The Bears from St. Paul, Minn. are making their 22nd straight Division II national tournament appearance. CSP has captured nine national championships, the last one coming in 2017.
The Bears tied for the NSIC regular season title then had a 15-match winning streak snapped by St. Cloud State in the finals of the conference tournament.
NSIC Player of the Year Mckenna Nold leads the Bears with 436 kills (4.15/set), 275 digs, 94 total blocks and 46 service aces.
CSP has three other First-Team All-NSIC performers in Mehlayna Straub (.383 attack percentage, 303 kills. 85 total blocks), Ellie Sieling (285 kills, 336 digs, 35 aces) and Cassie Sieling (437 digs).
The Bears own a 2-0 series advantage over UCO, sweeping the Bronchos in the second round of the 2015 Central Regional and first round of the 2017 Central Regional.
