Concordia-St. Paul was chosen as the top seed and tournament host for the NCAA Division II Central Region volleyball tournament, the NCAA announced Monday.

The top-ranked Golden Bears, 29-2 and riding a 13-match winning streak that included the NSIC tournament championship, will play No. 8 seed and first-time NCAA qualifier Southern Nazarene (20-10) in the fourth NCAA quarterfinal at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 1 at Concordia's Gangelhoff Center.

Concordia won seven straight national titles from 2007-2014 before losing to Wayne State in the finals of the regional tournament last year.

Semifinals will be Dec. 2, with the regional championship match the following day.

Also qualifying out of the NSIC as at-large entries were second-seeded Southwest Minnesota State (26-5), No. 4 Minnesota Duluth (25-4), No. 5 Winona State (26-5), No. 6 Augustana (26-5) and No. 7 Wayne State (24-7).

Augustana will face Nebraska-Kearney in the first quarterfinal at noon Dec. 1, followed by Southwest Minnesota vs. Wayne at 2:30 and UMD vs. Winona State at 5.

Big Ten honors Cashman

Gophers sophomore Blake Cashman was chosen Big Ten defensive player of the week Monday after a dominant performance in Saturday's 29-12 football victory over Northwestern.

Cashman had 10 tackles (nine solo), with two sacks, including one where he stripped the ball from Wildcats quarterback Clayton Thorson.

Cashman, a walk-on from Eden Prairie, was primarily a special-teams player before getting more chances in recent weeks as a linebacker in passing situations. He has 29 tackles and his six sacks are second on the team to defensive tackle Steven Richardson, who has seven.

JOE CHRISTENSEN

Johnnies player is Gagliardi semifinalist

St. John's senior linebacker Carter Hanson was announced as one of the 10 semifinalists for the Gagliardi Trophy, which is awarded to the most outstanding football player in NCAA Division III.

Hanson has started all 11 games this season for the ninth-ranked Johnnies (10-1) and leads the team with 73 tackles (28 solo), including eight for a loss. He is fifth in school history with 315 total tackles, sixth in solo tackles (147) and eighth in assisted tackles (168). Hanson also has 23.5 tackles for a loss and 4.5 sacks, as well as four interceptions, six forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries in 45 career games.