INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) will send two teams to the 2018 NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship. Interactive Bracket
Colorado College received the SCAC's automatic bid, and Trinity University received one of 19 at-large berths. This marks the 14th consecutive season and 18th overall time that the league has placed at least two teams into NCAA volleyball postseason competition.
Fourth-ranked Colorado College (31-2) earned its title over the weekend with a 3-2 victory over Southwestern University while ninth-ranked Trinity (24-5) finished in third place with a 3-0 sweep at the SCAC tournament.
At the Mount Berry Regional, Colorado College will go up against Washington and Lee (18-12), winners of the automatic bid from the Old Dominion Athletic Conference at 3 p.m on Friday. The winner of that opening round match will face the winner of Emory (Ga.) University and Meredith College at 2:30 p.m on Saturday.
Trinity heads to Chicago where the Tigers take on Aurora University (21-8), winners of the automatic bid from Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, in the first round. The winner that first round match will move on to face the winner of Chicago and Dubuque on Satuday afternoon.
Colorado College is making its 20th straight NCAA tournament appearance and 28th overall. Since joining the SCAC prior to the 2007 season, the Tigers are 11-11. Only three schools have more Division III tournament appearances than CC.
In 2018, CC held the second-highest hitting percentage in the nation swinging at a .273 clip while also averaging the third and fourth-best totals in assists-per-set (13.03) and kills-per-set (13.97), respectively.
Trinity earned its 23rd tournament appearance and the program's sixth in the last seven years. The Tigers hold an all-time NCAA postseason record of 30-23, including a national-runner up finish in 1999 and a third-place finish in 2002. This season, Trinity has posted 12.76 assists-per set (seventh best in Division III) and are also ranked in the top 10 in the nation in hitting percentage (.257) and kill-per-set (13.57).
Regional competition will be Friday-Sunday, Nov. 9-11, at all sites except Grand Rapids where competition will be Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 8-10.
The National Championship tournament will be played on November 15-17 at the A.J Palumbo Center on the campus of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.