INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) will send three teams to the 2021 NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship. Interactive Bracket
The NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Committee announced the field of 64 teams today for the 2021 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship, and the SCAC champion, Trinity University will be joined by Southwestern University and Colorado College, both of which earned at-large bids.
This marks the 16th consecutive tournament (2005-Present) and 20th overall time that the SCAC has placed at least two teams into NCAA volleyball postseason competition. It is the fourth time since 2013 that the league has had three teams in the tournament.
In a battle of two of the nation's top 20 teams, second-ranked Trinity (31-2) defeated 16th-ranked Southwestern (24-5) on Sunday in the SCAC title game.
At the Hoboken, N.J. Regional, Trinity will take on Cedar Crest (20-5), winners of the automatic bid from the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) on Friday. The winner of that opening round match will face the winner of host Stevens Institute of Technology (26-5) and Middlebury College (20-5) on Saturday.
Trinity earned its 26th tournament appearance and the program's eighth in the last nine tournaments. The Tigers hold an all-time NCAA postseason record of 34-25, including a run to the national semifinals in the last contested NCAA Tournament in 2019. The Tigers also earned a national-runner up finish in 1999 and a third-place finish in 2002. This season, Trinity has posted a .289 hitting percentage (second best in Division III) and are also ranked top 10 in the nation in blocks-per-set (2.50) and kills-per-set (13.75).
Southwestern heads to Atlanta where the Pirates will take on Washington & Lee (26-7), winner of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), in the first round. This marks the third time that Southwestern and Washington & Lee have met in the NCAA Tournament with the Pirates emerging victorious in the two previous meetings earning first round wins in both 2005 and 2007. The winner of that first round match will move on to face the winner of Berry College (25-2) and Transylvania (23-12) on Saturday afternoon.
Southwestern which will be making its 16th trip to the NCAA Tournament, returns for the first time since 2017. The Pirates are 15-15 all-time in NCAA Tournament action and have now made an appearance in 14 of the last 17 national postseason tournaments.
Finally, Colorado College (29-5) will compete in the Waverly, Iowa Regional, where they will see Ohio Northern (22-5) in the opening round. The Polar Bears swept Otterbein, 3-0, in the Ohio Athletic Conference Championship match to earn the AQ bid out of the OAC. The winner will take on the winner of host Wartburg College (27-0) and Cornell College (20-11) on Saturday.
The Tigers are making the program's 30th overall appearance in the NCAA tournament. CC, which advanced to the Elite 8 in 2009, owns a 21-29 all-time NCAA tournament record.
Regional competition will be Friday-Sunday, November 12-14.
The championship will be held Nov. 18-20 at Francis Fieldhouse in St. Louis, Missouri, with Washington University of St. Louis serving as host.
