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2016 NAIA Volleyball National Championship Qualifiers Announced

2016 NAIA Volleyball National Championship Qualifiers Announced

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EOU advances to final site, Corban hosts opening round

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (Watch Selection Show) The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics has officially announced the teams and Opening Round pairings for the 2016 NAIA Volleyball National Championship. The 44-team event will get underway with 12 National Championship Opening Round matches at campus locations on Nov. 19.

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. 29 – 1. The top two teams in each pool will advance to the elimination bracket on Dec. 2, and the national champion will be crowned Dec. 3 the with first-serve set for 7 p.m. CST on ESPN3.

This year’s field includes 34 automatic qualifiers, 9 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 Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll announced Monday. That Top 25 Poll can be viewed here. Final site pools will be determined on Sunday, Nov. 20, 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 2016 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. 29 – Dec. 2) and an all-championship package is available at $39.95. For more information and the pre-register, click here

Qualifier Highlights
• Twenty-four programs are back from the 2015 national championship, including last season’s national champion, Columbia (Mo.).
• Undefeated Westmont (Calif.) is the team to watch this postseason as the Warriors come into the national championship as the No. 1 ranked team at 31-0. This is Westmont’s 10th appearance.
• Morningside (Iowa) earned the host berth for the 2016 National Championship. The Mustangs enter competition with a 19-13 overall record and will be making their fifth appearance.
• Other teams to watch include defending national champion Columbia, who started out the season slow but is on an 11-game winning-streak and was crowned the American Midwest Conference Tournament champions in a 3-0 win over regular-season champion, Park (Mo.). Hastings (Neb.) is also on a roll late in the season, winning both the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) regular-season and tournament championships. They are led by the top hitter in the nation in Logan Drueppel (.433). Drueppel also leads the NAIA in blocks per set (1.7).  
• Nine 2016 qualifiers have made the championship 10-or-more times during the event’s existence, including: Biola (Calif.) (16), Columbia (23), Doane (Neb.) (11), Dordt (Iowa) (12), Georgetown (Ky.) (19), Hastings (11), Madonna (Mich.) (16), St. Francis (Ill.) (10) and Westmont (10).
• Only two programs in the field have won a national championship before: Columbia (1998, 1999, 2001, 2015) and Park (2014).
• The GPAC conference brings the most qualifiers this year with five institutions including: Doane, Dordt, Hastings, Midland (Neb.) and Morningside. The GPAC has yet to have a member school win the national championship.
• Perennial contender and defending national champion Columbia is the active leader in both championship appearances at 23 and playoff wins with an 87-43 record.
• Columbia has the most kills in a national tournament with 588.  They also hold the record for most total attempts with 1,884 in the 2000 national championship.
• Montana Tech snapped a 26-year drought of missing out on the national championship. The Diggers earned an at-large bid to qualify this season. Montana Tech finished as runner-up in the Frontier Conference tournament, losing to Carroll (Mont.), 3-2.
• Four teams have qualified for the first time in program history – Haskell (Kan.), Corban (Ore.), IU South Bend (Ind.) and Tabor (Kan.). 


2016 NAIA Volleyball National Championship Qualifiers

Team Qualification Season Record Appearances Last Time Record Titles
Bellevue (Neb.) At-Large 7 30-10 9th 2013 10-17 0
Biola (Calif.) At-Large 6 23-9 16th 2015 59-25 0
Carroll (Mont.) Frontier Conference - Tournament Champion 23-6 4th 2012 5-5 0
Columbia (Mo.) American Midwest Conference - Tournament Champion 26-11 23rd 2015 87-43 4
Coastal Georgia Southern States Athletic Conference - Tournament Champion 28-8 3rd 2015 2-6 0
Corban (Ore.) Cascade Collegiate Conference - Highest Tournament Finisher 22-6 1st N/A 0-0 0
Cornerstone (Mich.) Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference - Highest Tournament Finisher 32-8 2nd 2004 1-3 0
Doane (Mich.) At-Large 4 23-8 11th 2012 13-25 0
Dordt (Iowa) At-Large 1 22-7 12th 2015 25-22 0
Eastern Oregon Cascade Collegiate Conference - Regular Season Champion 28-2 2nd 2015 0-4 0
Georgetown (Ky.) At-Large 2 29-7 19th 2015 40-45 0
Grand View (Iowa) Heart of America Athletic Conference - Regular Season Champion 29-6 5th 2014 6-8 0
Haskell (Kan.) Association of Independent Institutions - Highest Tournament Finisher 13-14 1st N/A 0-0 0
Hastings (Neb.) Great Plains Athletic Conference - Regular Season Champion 26-3 11th 2015 19-25 0
IU South Bend (Ind.) Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference - Tournament Runner-Up 18-21 1st N/A 0-0 0
Indiana Wesleyan Crossroads League - Regular Season Champion 34-2 6th 2014 7-9 0
IU Kokomo (Ind.) River States Conference - Tournament Champion 26-7 2nd 2015 0-1 0
Jamestown (N.D.) At-Large 5 25-12 4th 2014 1-5 0
La Sierra (Calif.) California Pacific Athletic Conference - Tournament Champion 15-12 3rd 2015 0-2 0
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) Mid-South Conference - Tournament Champion 31-1 7th 2015 9-9 0
Lourdes (Ohio) Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference - Tournament Champion 26-5 3rd 2015 2-3 0
Madonna (Mich.) At-Large 9 30-7 16th 2015 35-31 0
MidAmerica Nazarene  Heart of America Athletic Conference - Highest Tournament Finisher 27-7 5th 2015 11-7 0
Midland (Neb.) Great Plains Athletic Conference - Highest Tournament Finisher 26-3 4th 2015 7-6 0
Missouri Baptist At-Large 3 28-8 8th 2015 16-13 0
Mobile (Ala.) Southern States Athletic Conference - Regular Season Champion 30-8 5th 2013 5-8 0
Montana Tech At-Large 8 22-9 3rd 1988 2-5 0
Morningside (Iowa) Host 19-13 5th 2012 3-9 0
Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) Crossroads Leauge - Highest Tournament Finisher 31-5 3rd 2015 1-6 0
Oklahoma City Sooner Athletic Conference - Tournament Champion 30-3 2nd 2010 1-3 0
Ottawa (Kan.) Kansas Collegiate Athletic - Regular Season Champion 31-7 4th 2015 1-5 0
Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) Red River Athletic Conference - Tournament Champion 25-6 2nd 2015 0-1 0
Ozarks (Mo.) Association of Independent Institutions - Tournament Champion 28-13 4th 2014 1-4 0
Park (Mo.) American Midwest Conference - Regular Season Champion 32-2 4th 2015 8-5 1
Point Park (Pa.) River States Conference - Regular Season Champion 20-14 4th 2015 0-3 0
St. Andrews (N.C.) Appalachian Athletic Conference - Highest Tournament Finisher 22-14 2nd 1993 0-4 0
St. Francis (Ill.) Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference - Tournament Champion 29-11 10th 2012 22-23 0
Tabor (Kan.) Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference - Highest Tournament Finisher 25-9 1st  N/A 0-0 0
Union (Ky.) Appalachian Athletic Conference - Regular Season Champion 32-9 5th 2015 0-4 0
Viterbo (Wis.) North Star Athletic Association - Tournament Champion 39-2 4th 2015 13-4 0
Wayland Baptist (Texas) Sooner Athletic Conference - Highest Tournament Finisher 24-15 4th 2015 6-3 0
Webber International (Fla.) The Sun Conference - Tournament Champion 28-2 2nd 2008 0-1 0
Westmont (Calif.) Golden State Athletic Conference - Regular Season Champion 31-0 10th 2013 21-20 0
Xavier (La.) Gulf Coast Athletic Conference 16-16 6th 2015 0-5 0

Opening Round Schedule 
Saturday, Nov. 19 | Campus Sites
Match 1 – Cornerstone (Mich.) at Union (Ky.)
Match 2 – La Sierra (Calif.) at Biola (Calif.)
Match 3 – Haskell (Kan.) at Bellevue (Neb.)
Match 4 – Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) at Corban (Ore.)
Match 5 – IU South Bend (Ind.) at Montana Tech
Match 6 – Point Park (Pa.) at Madonna (Mich.)
Match 7 – Webber International (Fla.) at Mobile (Ala.)
Match 8 – IU Kokomo (Ind.) at Ottawa (Kan.) 
Match 9 – St. Francis (Ill.) at Xavier (La.)
Match 10 – Ozarks (Mo.) at Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)
Match 11 – Tabor (Kan.) at Wayland Baptist (Texas)
Match 12 – St. Andrews (N.C.) at Coastal Georgia

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