The NCAA Division III Women’s Volleyball Committee announced its field of 62 teams for the 2009 NCAA Division III Volleyball Championships Monday (Nov. 9), and for the sixth straight season the Nebraska Wesleyan University volleyball team was selected to the tournament.
Nebraska Wesleyan received the No. 3 seed in the Central Regional that will begin today when the Prairie Wolves open play against the No. 6 seed, University of Wisconsin-Platteville at 12:30 pm. The winner of the NWU-Wisconsin Platteville match will face the winner of the Carthage-Simpson match on Friday (Nov. 13) at 4:30 p.m. NWU has defeated both Carthage and Simpson earlier this season.
NWU earned an at-large bid from Pool “B” after finishing the 2009 season with a 10-2 record in NCAA III play. This is the sixth straight year the Prairie Wolves have made the NCAA Championships, and the 13th overall appearance for NWU. Overall, NWU is 5-12 in NCAA III Tournament matches after advancing to the second round of the 2008 championships.
Wisconsin-Platteville is the #6 seed with a 22-14 overall record. The Pioneers also received an at-large bid to the tournament and are not ranked in the AVCA/DIII Poll. This is the sixth NCAA III Tournament appearance for the Pioneers, and the first since 2007. Thursday’s match will be Wisconsin-Platteville’s first match outside the state of Wisconsin.
Other teams in the field include top-seeded and host school Washington University (Mo.), who is ranked No. 3 in the AVCA Poll. The only other ranked school in the eight-team field is No. 8 Carthage. Washington will face Webster in one match and the winning team will advance to face the winner of the Thomas More-St. Mary’s (Minn.) match.
The winner of the Central Region will travel to University Heights, Ohio, site of the NCAA Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals held Nov. 19-21 at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.
Story courtesy of Neb. Wesleyan athletics. Click here for more on the regional tournament.
