KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Twenty-four teams will compete on Saturday to punch their ticket to the NAIA Volleyball National Championship final site in Sioux City, Iowa, Nov. 29-Dec. 3. These 24 teams qualified for the national championship, but will have to first play at campus sites to help decide the final twelve who will earn their way to Iowa. For the complete opening round schedule, click here.
The final site pairings and bracket will be released Sunday, Nov. 20 after all opening round contests have finished. For more information on the final site and 2016 NAIA Volleyball National Championship, click here.
Opening Round Headlines:
• Returning to the opening round this year is 11 teams who participated in 2015 – Point Park (Pa.), Union (Ky.), Xavier (La.), Our Lady of the Lake (Texas), La Sierra (Calif.), Coastal Georgia, Madonna (Mich.), IU Kokomo (Ind.), Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio), Ottawa (Kan.) and Wayland Baptist (Texas).
• Five of those teams made it to the final site last year, with only Madonna advancing out of pool play.
• The 2016 opening round includes four first-time qualifiers including Tabor (Kan.), Haskell (Kan.), IU South Bend (Ind.) and Corban (Ore.). Corban will be the only of the four to host its opening round game against Mount Vernon Nazarene, while the other three will be on the road.
• The Orediggers of Montana Tech have qualified for the first time since 1988, snapping a 28-year drought of earning their spot in the national championship. Montana Tech hosts IU South Bend in Butte, Mont.
• No teams participating in the opening round have ever won a national championship. Biola (Calif.) has finished the highest out of all opening round teams, as it has placed second at the national championship three times and third six times.
• Only two of the opening round contests pit two programs together who have already met this year. Back on August 27, Webber International played Mobile at a neutral site and came away with a 3-1 win over the Rams. Before that match, Mobile was 6-0 against Webber International. Wayland Baptist will also get a rematch to attempt to avenge an early season loss when it hosts Tabor. On September 4, Tabor swept the Wayland Baptist, the first time the Bluejays have won that series after losing the previous three.
• In last season’s opening round, the hosts went 10-2 throughout the 12 matches, and documented eight sweeps.
• Biola and Madonna both have made the most appearances out of the opening round teams in the national championship with 16 qualifications.
• Overall, 17 of the 21 conferences are represented in the opening rounds. The Appalachian Athletic Conference, Association of Independent Institutions, Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, River States Conference, Southern States Athletic Conference and Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference all bring two teams to the opening weekend.
• Four of the opening round qualifiers earned at-large bids, while the other eight either won its conference regular-season, tournament, or was the highest tournament finisher.
Opening Round Schedule
Saturday, Nov. 19 | Campus Sites
Match 1 – Cornerstone (Mich.) at Union (Ky.), 4 p.m. EST
Match 2 – La Sierra (Calif.) at Biola (Calif.), 7 p.m. PST
Match 3 – Haskell (Kan.) at Bellevue (Neb.), 2 p.m. CST
Match 4 – Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) at Corban (Ore.), 6 p.m. EST
Match 5 – IU South Bend (Ind.) at Montana Tech, 6 p.m. MST
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