DALLAS — No. 19 WKU and No. 24 Rice are NCAA Tournament bound for the second-straight season, the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Committee announced Sunday afternoon. The 48-team field includes the Hilltoppers as one of thirty automatic qualifiers, while Rice was awarded one of 18 at-large bids for the second year in a row.
NCAA Bracket
The Owls (16-5, 12-0) will face North Carolina A&T (11-1, 8-0) out of the MEAC on Wednesday, April 14 in Omaha, Nebraska, which is where the tournament will be hosted in its entirety. First serve is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. CT on ESPN3, and the winner will move on to face No. 5 seeded Penn State.
Rice will be appearing in their third NCAA Tournament in the last three seasons and sixth overall under Volpe. It marks the fourth trip in program history secured by an at-large berth. The Owls recorded their first undefeated (12-0) conference season in program history and finished the season with lots of momentum, taking No. 6 Baylor to five sets before defeating the then No. 2 ranked Texas Longhorns in Austin in five sets and advancing to the C-USA Championship match.
WKU (21-0, 12-0) drew SWAC Champion Jackson State (11-0, 9-0) in the first round, set for 9:30 p.m. CT Wednesday, April 14 on ESPN3. The winner will advance to face No. 15 seed Washington State in the second round.
The Hilltoppers secured an automatic bid to the NCAA bubble with Saturday's 3-1 win over Rice in the Conference USA Championship. WKU is now 6-0 in C-USA Tournament title matches since joining the league prior to the 2014 campaign. With Saturday's four-set win, the Hilltoppers now own a 63-4 record by set this year. WKU went a perfect 18-0 through the regular season for the first time and claimed the East Division share of the regular season title, its sixth in seven years in C-USA.
The 48 teams participating in the championship will travel to Omaha, Nebraska, where all rounds of the tournament will be played April 14-24 at the CHI Health Center Omaha Convention Center and Arena, hosted by the University of Nebraska and MECA. First- and second-round matches will be played April 14 and 15, and regional semifinals will be played April 18, at the convention center. Regional finals will take place on April 19 at the arena.
The regional winners will advance to the national semifinals and championship final hosted on April 22 and 24 at the CHI Health Center Omaha arena. The national semifinal matches and championship match will broadcast on ESPN2. All matches will be streamed on various ESPN networks.