The UMSL Tritons are 30-1 and will host the NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament next weekend. (Photo: Thomas Grove)
Nora Nichols
Staff Writer
NORMANDY, MO — Despite suffering its first loss of the season and falling in the GLVC Tournament championship game on Sunday, the University of Missouri-St. Louis women’s volleyball team was named the No. 1 seed for the upcoming NCAA Midwest Region Tournament during the NCAA Division II Women’s Volleyball Selection Show, which aired on NCAA.com last Monday night.
The winner of the tournament would advance to the national quarterfinals, where it would be just two wins away from playing for the national championship.
Last season, UMSL won the Midwest Regional for the first time ever and is looking to get back after advancing to the national semifinals, before being eliminated by eventual national champion, West Texas A&M.
The Tritons, who were ranked No. 2 in the country before last weekend’s loss, slipped to No. 4 in this week’s AVCA/Taraflex Top 25. Under head coach Ryan Young, UMSL has made the NCAA Tournament seven times, including four years in a row.
The Midwest Regional will consist of eight teams playing in a single-elimination tournament, which will be played at the Mark Twain Building and will begin on Thursday, November 30.
The tournament field is comprised of five teams from the GLVC, two from the GLIAC, one from the G-MAC. The league champs from the three conferences (Lewis-GLVC, Ferris State – GLIAC, and Hillsdale – G-MAC) earned automatic bids by winning their respective conference titles.
The other teams, UMSL, Quincy, Rockhurst, Missouri S&T, and Grand Valley State, all received at-large bids.
As the No. 1 seed, UMSL will begin play with a match against No. 8 seed Missouri S&T, November 30, at 5 p.m. The winner of that contest will advance to the semifinals and play the winner of the 4-seed/5-seed match between Quincy and Grand Valley State.
The other first round matches will be No. 2 Ferris State versus No. 7 Hillsdale and No. 3 Lewis against No. 6 Rockhurst.
The winners of the semifinal games, which will be played on Friday, December 1, will meet in the championship game, which will be played on Saturday, December 2. First serve for the championship match is set for 7 p.m.
The national quarterfinals, national semifinals, and national championship game will be played December 7-9 at the UPMC Events Center in Moon Township, Pa.
2023 NCAA Midwest Region Tournament
Quarterfinals – Thursday, November 30 – Normandy, Mo. (Mark Twain Building)
Game 1 – No. 3 Lewis (26-6) vs. No. 6 Rockhurst (21-7) – 12 pm
Game 2 – No. 2 Ferris State (25-7) vs. No. 7 Hillsdale (27-6) – 2:30 pm
Game 3 – No. 1 UMSL (30-1) vs. No. 8 Missouri S&T (18-10) – 5 pm
Game 4 – No. 4 Quincy (24-5) vs. No. 5 Grand Valley State (26-4) – 7:30 pm
Semifinals – Friday, December 1 – Normandy, Mo. (Mark Twain Building)
Semifinal 1 – Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner – 5 pm
Semifinal 2 – Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner – 7:30 pm
Championship Game – Saturday, December 2 – Normandy, Mo. (Mark Twain Building)
Midwest Region Championship – Semifinal winners – 7 pm