Tigers Earn 20th NCAA Division III Tournament Berth
For the 19th straight year and the 20th time ever, Wittenberg will compete for an NCAA Division III title.
Springfield, Ohio – The fourth-ranked Wittenberg University volleyball team has been selected to compete in the NCAA Division III Tournament for the 19th consecutive year and the 20th time in school history. For the first time since 2010, the Tigers will serve as a host of the three regional rounds of competition, with Wittenberg squaring off against Cabrini in the opening round on Thursday, Nov. 13.
The Tigers' contest against Cabrini, the champion of the Colonial States Athletic Conference, is one of four first-round matches scheduled for the opening day of the regional tournament hosted by Wittenberg. Winners will advance to the regional semifinals on Friday, Nov. 14, and the championship match is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 15.
The opening day of the competition features matches between Juniata and Franciscan at 12:30 p.m., Hope and Franklin & Marshall at 3 p.m., Washington & Lee and Mount Union at 5:30 p.m., and Wittenberg and Cabrini at 8 p.m. All matches will be played in Pam Evans Smith Arena in the Wittenberg's HPER Center.
The winner of Wittenberg's first-round match against Cabrini will square off against the winner of the Washington & Lee/Mount Union match at 6 p.m. Friday. That match will be preceded by a second round match at 3:30 p.m. featuring the winner of the Juniata/Franciscan match against the winner of the Hope/Franklin & Marshall match. The winners of Friday's second round matches will play at 7 p.m. Saturday for the right to advance to the national quarterfinals.
The winner of the regional bracket will advance to the national tournament, with quarterfinals, semifinals and finals set for the weekend of Nov. 20-22, at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va.
Click here for complete NCAA Division III Tournament bracket
Wittenberg advanced to the 2014 NCAA Division III Tournament by virtue of the North Coast Athletic Conference's (NCAC) automatic berth after winning the NCAC regular season and tournament titles. The Tigers, who compiled records of 27-3 overall and 8-0 in the NCAC, have been ranked in the top 10 nationally all season. Wittenberg has an 8-3 record against teams that earned berths in the national competition.
The Tigers enter the tournament with a head of steam, winners of 21 straight matches, culminating in an NCAC Tournament championship match victory over DePauw on Saturday, Nov. 8. Wittenberg has won 20 NCAC regular season titles, including the last nine, and 20 NCAC Tournament titles, including the last eight, in the last 23 years. The Tigers will take winning streaks of 51 straight NCAC regular season matches and 19 straight NCAC Tournament matches into the 2015 campaign.
Wittenberg is making its 20th NCAA appearance and 19th in a row (1993-96-97-98-99-00-01-02-03-04-05-06-07-08-09-10-11-12-13-14). The Tigers have reached the NCAA Division III Tournament Round of 16 a total of 13 times in school history, the national quarterfinals six of the last 12 years, the national semifinals four times and the championship game for the first time in 2011. Wittenberg has a 34-18 (.654) overall record in the national tournament.
Written By: Ryan Maurer