DALLAS – (RV) Rice and No. 17 WKU posted perfect records in conference play to claim regular season division titles, and the Owls and Hilltoppers are the No. 1 seeds for the 2021 Conference USA Volleyball Championship, scheduled for November 19-21, hosted by Old Dominion.
The single-elimination tournament features the league’s top eight teams seeded in a cross-divisional format for the quarterfinal round. WKU is the defending C-USA tournament champion from 2020 in an event played in April 2021.
C-USA Volleyball Championship Central
Rice (17-5, 12-0 C-USA) won the West Division title, and the Owls are the tournament’s overall top seed by way of RPI. The Owls face East No. 4 seed Charlotte (12-12, 5-7 C-USA) in the first quarterfinal at 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT Friday, November 19.
The second quarterfinal features West No. 3 seed North Texas (15-11, 7-5 C-USA) against East No. 2 seed Middle Tennessee (8-10, 6-6 C-USA) at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT.
The evening session of the quarterfinals begin with West No. 4 seed UAB (11-13; 6-6 C-USA) taking on East No. 1 seed WKU (24-1, 12-0 C-USA) at 5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT.
The last quarterfinal match has East No. 3 seed FIU (9-12, 6-6 C-USA) playing West No. 2 seed UTEP (19-6, 8-4 C-USA).
The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, November 20 with the winner of Charlotte-Rice playing the winner of North Texas-Middle Tennessee at 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT, followed by the winner of UAB-WKU facing the winner of FIU-UTEP at 2:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. CT. The C-USA championship game is slated for Sunday, November 21 at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. CT.
All matches of the 2021 C-USA Volleyball Championship will be broadcast on ESPN+.
2021 Conference USA Volleyball Championship Schedule
November 19-21, 2021 – Norfolk, Virginia (Hosted by Old Dominion)
Friday, November 19 – Quarterfinals
Match 1: (4E) Charlotte vs. (1W) Rice (ESPN+) – 12 p.m. ET
Match 2: (3W) North Texas vs. (2E) Middle Tennessee (ESPN+) – 2 p.m.
Match 3: (4W) UAB vs. (1E) WKU (ESPN+) – 5 p.m.
Match 4: (3E) FIU vs. (2W) UTEP (ESPN+) – 7 p.m.
Saturday, November 20 – Semifinals
Match 5: M1 Winner vs. M2 Winner (ESPN+) – 12 p.m.
Match 6: M3 Winner vs. M4 Winner (ESPN+) – 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 21 – Championship Match
Match 7: Semifinal Winners (ESPN+) – 11 a.m.
All times Eastern