Wittenberg Women's Volleyball Earns 29th NCAA Tournament Berth
Wittenberg Women’s Volleyball has been selected to compete in the NCAA Division III Tournament for the 29th time in program history. The Tigers will open their quest for the program’s second NCAA Division III championship with a first-round match against Otterbein at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Tigers' contest against Otterbein, the champion of the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC), is one of four first-round matches scheduled for the opening day of the regional tournament hosted by Carnegie Mellon. Winners will advance to the regional semifinals on Friday, Nov. 21, and the regional championship match is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 22, all at Carnegie Mellon.
The opening day of the competition at Carnegie Mellon features matches between the host Tartans and Stevens at 7 p.m., Hope and Southern Virginia at 4:30 p.m., Wisconsin-Eau Claire and St. Mary's (MD) at 2 p.m., and the battle between Wittenberg and Otterbein at 11:30 a.m. All matches will be played in Carnegie Mellon's Skibo Gymnasium.
The winner of Wittenberg's first-round match against Otterbein will square off against the winner of the Wisconsin-Eau Claire/St. Mary's match at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21, followed by a second-round match featuring the winner of the Carnegie Mellon/Stevens match against the winner of the Hope/Southern Virginia match at 7 p.m. The winners of the second-round matches will play at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22, for the right to advance to the national quarterfinals.
The quarterfinals are set for Wednesday, Dec. 3, at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois. The national semifinals will take place on Thursday, Dec. 4, and the national championship match will take place on Saturday, Dec. 6. All matches will be played in Illinois Wesleyan's Shirk Center.
Wittenberg advanced to the 2025 NCAA Division III Tournament by virtue of an automatic berth, earned by winning the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament title in convincing fashion. The Tigers won all nine NCAC matches between the regular season and tournament, culminating in a 3-0 sweep of second-seeded John Carroll on Saturday, Nov. 15. The NCAC Tournament title was Wittenberg’s league record 28th since 1992.
The Tigers, who compiled records of 20-7 overall and 7-0 in the NCAC, enter the national competition riding an 11-match winning streak. After competing against a challenging regular season schedule, Wittenberg has a record of 2-5 against teams that earned berths in the NCAA Division III Tournament and a record of 4-4 against teams receiving votes in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association national poll.
“I am very proud of the way our team has put all of the pieces together over the last few weeks after a tough start to this season,” said Head Coach Evelyn Miller. “We had an incredible run through the conference regular season and tournament, and now we are looking forward to representing Wittenberg and competing against the best teams in the country.”
Wittenberg is making its 29th NCAA Division III Tournament appearance (1993-96-97-98-99-00-01-02-03-04-05-06-07-08-09-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21-22-23-25). The Tigers have reached the tournament quarterfinals eight times, the national semifinals six times, and the championship game in 2011, 2015, and 2017. Wittenberg won the NCAA Division III Championship in 2011 and has a 49-27 (.649) overall record in the national tournament.
Written By: Ryan Maurer