(Portions of this story were taken from the NCAA website)
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- For the second consecutive year, the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) will send three teams to the NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship. Interactive Bracket | Printable Bracket
The NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Committee announced today the field of 64 teams for the 2013 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship, and Colorado College, Southwestern University and Trinity University all received bids.
This marks the ninth consecutive season (2005-Present) and 13th overall time that the SCAC has placed at least two teams into NCAA volleyball postseason competition. It is also the seventh overall time (1998, 2006-2009, 2012-2013) that the conference has placed at three or more teams into the NCAA tournament.
SCAC champion and 14th-ranked Trinity University (34-6) will host one of the eight regionals. The Tigers will be joined in the regional by Southwestern University (26-11). Trinity and Southwestern played an epic, 5-set match for the SCAC championship this past Saturday.
Trinity will play University of California-Santa Cruz (20-6) and Southwestern will play University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (29-7) in first round play. If both the Tigers and Pirates advance, the two would match up in the second round which would be the fourth meeting of the season between the rivals.
11th-ranked Colorado College (33-4) was sent to the Emory University bracket in Atlanta, Ga. The Tigers will play Maryville (Tenn.) College (24-15) in first-round action.
Forty-three conferences were awarded automatic qualification for the 2013 championship. Two teams were selected from Pool B, which consists of independent schools and schools that are members of conferences that do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification.
The final 19 berths were reserved for Pool C, which consists of schools from automatic-qualifying conferences that are not the conference champion and any remaining Pool B teams.
Regional competition will be Friday-Sunday, November 15-17 with the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals slated for Thursday-Saturday, November 21-23, at the DeVos Fieldhouse on the campus of Hope College in Holland, Michigan.
