Senior setter Kaileen Herman and the UMSL Tritons will play GLVC rival Lewis University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. (Photo courtesy: UMSL Athletics)
by Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
After finishing off a fantastic regular season with a Central Division title and advancing to the championship game of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament, the University of Missouri-St. Louis women’s volleyball team got the news it hoped it’d hear, late Monday night, when it was announced that the Tritons had earned a spot in this year’s NCAA National Championship Tournament.
UMSL, which concluded its regular season with a 22-7 record, then won its first two games in the GLVC Tournament, was one set away from pulling off the upset of the season and winning the GLVC championship game over No. 24-nationally ranked Lewis.
But the Tritons couldn’t hold their lead and eventually fell to the three-time champion Flyers. That meant Lewis had earned the automatic bid to the national tournament that comes with winning the conference championship and that UMSL would have to wait to find out its fate.
And that wait turned out to be a little longer than expected, as the NCAA Tournament Selection Show, which was supposed to air at 6:30 Monday evening, didn’t actually begin until after 7.
So that meant an anxious set of Triton players and coaches had no choice but to sit and wait to see if their names would be called.
Eventually though, about 20 minutes into the broadcast, the good news came as it was announced UMSL would be the No. 5 seed in the eight-team Midwest Region and that the Tritons’ first-round match would be a rematch against Lewis, which was named the No. 4 seed.
The contest will be played Thursday, December 2, at Ferris State University’s Ewigleben Sports Arena in Big Rapids, Mich.
Ferris State, the No. 1-ranked team in the nation and champions of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, was named the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region and will serve as the host for all of the regions first and second round matches.
The winner of the UMSL-Lewis match would probably face Ferris State in the second round. The Bulldogs are playing No. 8 seed Rockhurst in the first round.
No matter who the opponent, should UMSL reach the second round, that contest would be played on Saturday, December 4.
The Tritons have played all three of those opponents at least once this season. They are 1-0 against Rockhurst, 0-2 against Lewis, and 0-1 against Ferris State.
The 64-team national tournament will begin next weekend – everyone gets this weekend off for the Thanksgiving holiday – and will conclude the weekend of December 9-11, with the national quarterfinals, semifinals and championship game being played in Tampa, Fla.
Official match start times for the first round games haven’t not been set yet, but the matches will be streamed online live through the GLIAC Sports Network.