NCAA Championship Bracket
INDIANAPOLIS – For the fourth time this season, familiar Great Midwest Athletic Conference divisional foes Hillsdale and Findlay will meet, this time in the NCAA Volleyball Championship Midwest Regional.
The Chargers and Oilers both made the field of 64 with eight teams being picked by the national committee from eight regions.
Hillsdale (28-3 overall) enters as the No. 2 seed and Findlay (27-6 overall) is the No. 7 seed as an at-large selection. HC and UF will battle on Saturday, Nov. 30, at a time still to be determined.
The winner will advance to the second round of the regional to face either No. 3 Rockhurst or No. 6 Bellarmine.
Top seed and No. 4 nationally-ranked Lewis will serve as the regional host in Romeoville, Ill. Additional matchups in the region include No. 1 Lewis vs. No. 8 Michigan Tech and No. 4 Ferris State vs. No. 5 McKendree.
Hillsdale, just a few days removed from being crowned the Great Midwest tournament champion, jumped into the national rankings earlier in the day at No. 25 in the AVCA Poll.
The Chargers have won 21 straight matches, more than doubling the previous conference record of 10 consecutive wins and placed six on the all-conference team while sweeping individual awards.
Great Midwest Coach of the Year Chris Gravel guided his team past Davis & Elkins, Walsh and finally Findlay, in the conference championship bracket. Great Midwest Player of the Year Paige VanderWall had a huge final with 15 kills, four blocks and a .378 hitting percentage. Great Midwest Freshman of the Year Lindsey Mertz has been playing like a seasoned veteran while operating a deadly offensive attack.
The Oilers are NCAA qualifiers for back-to-back seasons and were the No. 2 seed last year in the NCAA Midwest Regional. This is the program’s sixth NCAA appearance since UF became an NCAA DII institution in 2000.
UF placed on the all-conference team including setter Hailee Olson, outside hitter Amanda Winner, libero Kara Scherger, middle blocker Shelby Kin and right side Molly Hammersmith.
Findlay beat Hillsdale in the first meeting of the 2017 season, a 3-2 finish. Hillsdale evened the season series with a 3-0 sweep to earn hosting rights for the conference tournament. The Chargers then won in four games, 3-1, against their West Division rival on Saturday.
Findlay and Hillsdale were co-West Division champions during the regular season.
Eight eight-team regionals will be played at on-campus sites. Regional competition will be single-elimination, best three-of-five-set matches and will not include a third-place match. The winners of each of the eight regionals will advance to the finals, Dec. 7-9, at the UWF Field House in Pensacola, Florida. The University of West Florida and Pensacola Sports will serve as hosts. Competition at the finals site will be single-elimination; best three-of-five-set matches.