Loper Volleyball Part of Ultra Tough Central Regional
The now fifth-ranked Nebraska-Kearney volleyball team is in the NCAA Tournament for a 25th straight season and will battle 32nd-ranked and MIAA rival Washburn in the first round of the Central Regional.
The 64-team NCAA Tournament field -- eight schools from each of Division II's eight regions -- was announced tonight. The complete bracket is available HERE; region winners advance to the Elite Eight December 12-14 in Sioux Falls. The Central Regional will be Friday-Saturday (Dec. 5-7) in St. Cloud, Minn., with St. Cloud State serving as host. Match times to be announced.
The third-seeded Lopers (30-2) were ranked second in the final region rankings (Nov. 17) and reached the MIAA Tournament finals this past weekend. The Ichabods (20-7) were ranked sixth in the Central and remained so despite losing to Northwest Missouri in the MIAA quarterfinals. UNK swept the regular season series from WU, 3-0 in Kearney and 3-2 in Topeka. The Lopers also took the only previous NCAA meeting between the two, 3-0, back in a 2012 first round match.
UNK is 34-27 all-time in the NCAA's, advancing to the Elite Eight in 2019, 2005, 2004, 2003, 1996 and 1995. The Lopers were National Runners up in 2019 and 2005. Finally, the 25-year NCAA run trails only the University of Tampa as the Spartans have made the "Big Dance" the past 28 years.
Below are the seeds for the regional, along with national rankings as of Nov. 25, and record to date. The AVCA national rankings have no bearing on the NCAA Tourney selection process.
Seed National Rank/School/Record … Bid
1. #2 St. Cloud State (27-2) … Automatic bid from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference
2. #6 Central Oklahoma (30-2) … Automatic bid from the MIAA
3. #5 UNK (30-2) … At-Large
4. #9 Concordia-St. Paul (23-6) … At-Large
5. #26 Missouri Western State (23-7) … At-Large
6. #T-32 Washburn (20-7)
7. #15 Southwest Minnesota State (23-5) …. At-Large
8. Ouachita Baptist, Ark. (22-9) … Automatic bid from the Great American Conference
Left Out: #16 Wayne State (23-7), #17 Northern (21-7), #T-32 Minnesota-Duluth (15-11)
Thursday, Dec. 5
No. 3 UNK vs. No. 6 WU
No. 2 UCO vs. No. 7 SMSU
No. 4 CU vs. No. 5 MWSU
No. 1 SCSU vs. No. 8 OBU
Friday, Dec. 6
WU/UNK Winner vs. SMSU/UCO Winner
SCSU/OBU Winner Vs. CSP/MWSU Winner
Saturday, Dec. 7
Championship Match
Most NCAA Division II Appearances (All-Time)
1. Tampa (39)
2. New Haven, Conn. (37)
3. Central Missouri (36)
4. Florida Southern (34)
5. West Texas A&M (32)
6. Metro State, Colo. (30)
7. Ferris State, Mich. (28)
UNK (28)