NAIA Volleyball National Championship Pool Assignments and Schedule Announced
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Columbia, Mo. – (Adapted from the official NAIA release) The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) have released the pool assignments and schedule for the 30th Annual NAIA Volleyball National Championship Presented by Siouxland Sports Medicine Foundation. The tournament will be held Dec. 1-5 at the Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena in Sioux City, Iowa.
The final 24 teams are placed into six pools and will play a round robin pool play Dec. 1-3, with the top two teams from each pool advancing to the single elimination bracket starting Dec. 4. The championship match will take place at 8 p.m. (CST) on Dec. 5.
Defending national champion Fresno Pacific (32-0) has been awarded the top seed in the tournament. The Sunbirds are making their 19th trip to the National Championship and will be looking to claim their fifth national title in program history.
Three other teams in addition to Fresno Pacific have previously earned a national title: second-seeded California Baptist (2), fifth-seeded Azusa Pacific (1) and seventh-seeded Columbia (3).
The Columbia College Cougars earned the No. 7 seed and are placed in Pool F. The Cougars will face off against No. 6 ranked Georgetown (Ky.) College and unranked Lee (Tenn.) University and Lubbock Christian (Texas) University.
Columbia will start off the tournament with Lee University on Tuesday, December 1st at 3:15 p.m. The Lady Flames came from behind to defeat Freed-Hardeman University in the Opening Round to advance to the final site. Lee is 33-5 on the season and earned a spot by winning the Southern State Athletic Conference Tournament earlier this month. This is their eighth time to appear at the National Championships and the Lady Flames hold a 6-19 record in national tournament play. The last meeting between these two teams was back in October of 2005. The Cougars prevailed in straight sets.
On Wednesday, December 2nd at 3:15 p.m. the Cougars will take on Lubbock Christian University. The Lady Chaparrals are appearing in their seventh national tournament and hold an 12-16 record heading to Sioux City. Lubbock Christian (27-5) won the Sooner Athletic Conference, defeating Oklahoma Baptist University, and advanced to host St. Thomas (Texas) College in the opening round on Saturday. The Lady Chaps defeated the Lady Celts easily to earn their spot in Sioux City. The Cougars last met Lubbock Christian in 2004 with Columbia sweeping the match.
Columbia’s final pool play game will come against Georgetown College on Thursday, December 3rd at 3:15 p.m. The No. 6 ranked Tigers received an opening round bye, just like Columbia, based on their ranking. Georgetown heads to Sioux City with a 40-2 record as the Mid-South Conference champion. This is Georgetown’s 14th trip to the NAIA National Tournament and they they’ve posted a 22-35 record against opponents while there. The Cougars are familiar with the Tigers, as they faced off twice last year with Georgetown winning both matches in five sets.
“We have a really tough pool,” stated Cougar head coach Melinda Wrye-Washington. “We will have to work hard early. We don’t have any easy matches this year.”
The Cougars are one of nine teams that hold a national tournament winning record. Columbia heads to the tournament for the 16th straight year and has a 64-33 record at the playoff. Fresno Pacific (Calif.) University is the only team that has appeared at more national tournaments than the Cougars at 19.