ST. LOUIS – No. 15 Missouri Baptist University women's volleyball will host the Dillard University Blue Devils to open the NAIA National Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 6 p.m.
The 48-team event will begin with 24 championship opening round matches at campus locations.
This year's championship field includes 33 automatic qualifiers and 15 at-large selections. Automatic berths were given to teams that either won their respective conference tournament title, were the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, won the regular-season championship, or finished runner-up in the conference tournament, as determined by each conference qualification plan. At-large bids were determined by the NAIA Women's Volleyball Selection Committee. The selection committee consists of coaches and administrators from around the country.
The Spartans begin their 17th trip to the NAIA National Tournament against the Blue Devils after claiming a share of the Heart of America Athletic Conference Regular Season and Tournament Championships. They went 29-5 overall and 17-1 in conference play before sweeping their way through the first two rounds of the Heart Tournament and taking down Park University in the championship game 3-1.
Dillard went 18-8 overall, including 11-1 in the HBCUAC. They ended the season on a three-game winning streak, taking down Stillman College with a sweep on Nov. 10 in the conference quarterfinals, Philander Smith College in four sets on Nov. 11, and taking down Fisk in the HBCUAC Championship in five sets on Nov. 12.
Each host will broadcast all championship opening round matches, and they can be viewed for free on the
NAIA Channel of the Urban Edge Network.
Following the opening rounds, the final site pools will be announced on Sunday, November 23, at 1 p.m.
Action at the final site will take place inside the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, and will commence with three days of pool play from Dec. 3-5. At the conclusion of pool play, the top team in each three-team pool will advance to the elimination bracket, starting with the quarterfinals, on Saturday, Dec. 6. The semifinals will be played on Monday, Dec. 8, and the Battle for the Red Banner will end on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
The Spartans host at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22, in the Carl & Deloris Petty SRC. Watch online on the Urban Edge Network and follow live stats on MBUSpartans.com or the Missouri Baptist Spartans mobile app.
