Courtesy: NAIA
Championship Schedule | Watch Video Announcement Live
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics has officially announced the teams and Opening Round pairings for the 2018 NAIA Volleyball National Championship. The 44-team event will get underway with 12 National Championship Opening Round matches at campus locations on Nov. 17.
The top 19 seeds and championship host Morningside (Iowa) automatically advance to the national championship final site in Sioux City, Iowa. Action inside the Tyson Events Center starts with three days of pool play from Nov. 27 – 29. The top two teams in each pool will advance to the elimination bracket on Nov. 30, and the national champion will be crowned Dec. 1 with first serve set for 7 p.m. CST on ESPN3.
This year’s field includes 33 automatic qualifiers, 10 at-large selections and one host berth (Morningside). The automatic berths are determined by regular-season champions, conference tournament title winners or runner-ups. The remaining at-large bids were determined by the final regular season Women’s Volleyball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll announced Monday. Final site pools will be determined on Sunday, Nov. 18, and released by 5 p.m. CST
The NAIA Network – the association’s official video-streaming home – will broadcast all 63 matches (including 48 pool-play matches) live at the 2018 NAIA Volleyball National Championship final site in Sioux City, Iowa. The video platform, powered by Stretch Internet, allows users access to live video, statistics and social interaction on a number of devices, including mobile. Single-day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while a pool play pass is $24.95 (Nov. 28 – Dec. 1) and a championship package is available at $39.95. You can also buy an All-Championship pass and watch every championship streamed on the NAIA Network in 2018. Buy your All-Championship Pass today.
Qualifier Highlights
- The Great Plains Athletic Conference dominates the field with six qualifiers: Dordt (Iowa), Northwestern (Iowa), Morningside (Iowa), Hastings (Neb.), Midland (Neb.) and Jamestown (N.D).
- The Cascade Collegiate Conference follows with four qualifiers of its own: College of Idaho, Southern Oregon, Easter Oregon and Corban (Ore.)
- There are eight teams in the 2018 field that are making an appearance in the championship for the first time: IU Northwest (Ind.), Saint Francis (Ind.), Central Methodist (Mo.), McPherson (Kan.), Brescia (Ky.), Faulkner (Ala.), Aquinas (Mich.) and Providence (Mont.).
- There are 10 teams in the 2018 field that are making their 10th or higher appearance at the national championship: Missouri Baptist, College of Idaho, Southern Oregon, Texas Wesleyan, Bellevue (Neb.), Westmont (Calif.), Hastings (Neb.), Dordt (Iowa), Columbia (Mo.) and Northwestern (Iowa)
- Columbia holds the highest number of appearances overall in at the national tournament at 25.
- 2017 national champion Lindsey Wilson returns to the championship as the Mid-South Conference tournament champion
- Hastings, Park (Mo.), Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) and Columbia are the only champions in the 2018 field.
- Columbia is the only team in the tournament field to have won more than one title as well as the only team in the field to win a title in consecutive years (1998-99-01-15).
- Missouri, Indiana and Iowa yield the highest number of championship qualifiers with four each.
- Undefeated Grand View (Iowa) is the team to watch as the only undefeated team that will compete in the national tournament as it recently snagged the No. 1-rank in the final regular-season poll.
- Twenty-eight teams return to the championship after competing in the 2017 championship.
- Milligan (Tenn.) returns to the championship field after a 21-year drought. The Buffs return to the national championship for the first time since 1996.
Qualifier Information
| School | Qualification | Season Record | Appearances | Last Time | Titles |
| Aquinas | WHAC Regular Season Champion | 32-7, 17-3 | 1st | 0 | 0 |
| Bellevue | At-Large | 23-11, 11-3 | 11th | 2017 | 0 |
| Brescia (Ky.) | River States Tournament Runner-Up | 23-17, 11-5 | 1st | 0 | 0 |
| Coastal Georgia | The Sun Conference Tournament Champion | 22-11, 11-5 | 4th | 2016 | 0 |
| Central Methodist | Heart Tournament Runner-Up | 30-6, 15-2 | 1st | 0 | 0 |
| College of Idaho | At-Large | 22-8, 16-4 | 10th | 2017 | 0 |
| Columbia | AMC Tournament Champion | 37-3, 10-2 | 25th | 2017 | 4 |
| Corban (Ore.) | At-Large | 20-11, 15-5 | 3rd | 2017 | 0 |
| Cornerstone (Mich.) | WHAC Conference Tournament Champion | 30-9, 15-5 | 4th | 2017 | 0 |
| Dordt | GPAC Regular Season/Tournament Champion | 27-2, 16-0 | 14th | 2017 | 0 |
| Eastern Oregon | Cascade Tournament Champion | 22-6, 17-3 | 5th | 2017 | 0 |
| Embry-Riddle | Cal Pac Tournament Champion | 28-6, 16-0 | 2nd | 2017 | 0 |
| Faulkner | Southern States Tournament Champion | 28-11, 14-2 | 1st | 0 | 0 |
| Grand View | Heart Regular Season/Tournament Champion | 32-0, 18-0 | 8th | 2017 | 0 |
| Haskell | AII Tournament Champion | 11-21, 2-3 | 2nd | 2016 | 0 |
| Hastings | At-Large | 19-6, 13-3 | 13th | 2017 | 1 |
| Indiana Northwest | AII Tournament Runner-Up | 27-11, 6-1 | 1st | 0 | 0 |
| IU Kokomo | River States Regular Season/Tournament Champion | 34-4, 16-0 | 4th | 2017 | 0 |
| Jamestown (N.D.) | At-Large | 21-8, 10-6 | 6th | 2017 | 0 |
| Lindsey Wilson | Mid-South Tournament Champion | 29-3, 13-0 | 8th | 2017 | 1 |
| Marian | Crossroads Regular Season/Tournament Champion | 28-5, 15-3 | 2nd | 2017 | 0 |
| McPherson | KCAC Regular Season Champion | 32-2, 12-0 | 1st | 0 | 0 |
| Midland | At-Large | 22-6, 13-3 | 6th | 2017 | 0 |
| Milligan (Tenn.) | AAC Tournament Runner-Up | 25-6, 16-3 | 2nd | 1996 | 0 |
| Missouri Baptist | At-Large | 31-4, 11-1 | 10th | 2017 | 0 |
| Morningside | Host Bid | 13-14, 7-9 | 7th | 2017 | 0 |
| Northwestern | GPAC Tournament Runner-Up | 24-7, 13-3 | 14th | 2017 | 0 |
| Oklahoma City | Sooner Regular Season/Tournament Champion | 30-3, 18-2 | 4th | 2017 | 0 |
| Ottawa (Kan.) | KCAC Tournament Champion | 26-10, 11-1 | 5th | 2017 | 0 |
| Park | AMC Regular Season Champion | 29-1, 12-0 | 6th | 2017 | 1 |
| Providence | Frontier Tournament Champion | 22-9, 8-4 | 1st | 0 | 0 |
| Reinhardt | AAC Regular Season Champion | 33-6, 19-0 | 2nd | 2017 | 0 |
| Rocky Mountain | At-Large | 28-4, 12-0 | 6th | 2015 | 0 |
| Saint Francis (Ind.) | Crossroads Tournament Runner-Up | 30-8, 15-3 | 1st | 0 | 0 |
| Saint Xavier (Ill.) | CCAC Regular Season/Tournament Champion | 27-9, 17-1 | 5th | 2017 | 0 |
| Southern Oregon | Cascade Regular Season/Tournament Champion | 25-3, 17-3 | 10th | 2015 | 0 |
| Texas Wesleyan | Sooner Tournament Runner-Up | 24-10, 17-3 | 10th | 2017 | 0 |
| The Master’s | GSAC Champion | 27-5, 16-2 | 3rd | 2013 | 0 |
| Trinity Christian | CCAC Tournament Runner-Up | 28-9, 15-2 | 5th | 2017 | 0 |
| Vanguard | At-Large | 26-8, 12-6 | 8th | 2015 | 0 |
| Viterbo | North Star Tournament Champion | 29-6, 13-1 | 6th | 2017 | 0 |
| Westmont | At-Large | 25-5, 15-3 | 12th | 2017 | 0 |
| Wiley | Red River Tournament Champion | 20-3, 9-3 | 2nd | 2008 | 0 |
| Xavier | GCAC Tournament Champion | 26-6, 14-0 | 8th | 2017 | 0 |
Opening Round Match-Ups
St. Xavier (Ill.) at IU Kokomo (Ind.)
IU Northwest (Ind.) at Ottawa (Kan.)
Brescia (Ky.) at Central Methodist (Mo.)
Xavier (La.) at Corban (Ore.)
Texas Wesleyan at McPherson (Kan.)
Haskell (Kan.) at Jamestown (N.D.)
Faulkner (Ala.) at Marian (Ind.)
Bellevue (Neb.) at Trinity Christian (Ill.)
St. Francis (Ind.) at Aquinas (Mich.)
Coastal Georgia at Reinhardt (Ga.)
Milligan (Tenn.) at Cornerstone (Mich.)
Wiley (Texas) at Oklahoma City
Leave a Reply