NAIA Releases 2013 Volleyball National Championship Qualifiers

Opening round pairings announced Monday at Noon CST.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially released the 2013 Volleyball National Championship qualifiers for the 34th annual event.

The 36-team NAIA National Championship will get underway with 12 National Championship Opening Round tournaments at campus locations on Nov. 23.

The pairings for the Opening Round matches will be released on Monday at Noon CST via a live graphical presentation. Go to www.NAIA.org for more details. The 12 Opening Round winners, as well as host Briar Cliff (Iowa), and the 11 additional schools that garnered byes, will advance to the NAIA National Championship final site in Sioux City, Iowa. The Tyson Events Center will welcome 24 teams from Dec. 3 – 7.

This year’s 36 teams include 27 automatic qualifiers – which was awarded to teams that either won their respective conference/independent tournament or regular season championship, or was a runner-up in their respective conference/independent regular season – eight at-large bids and one host berth earned by Briar Cliff. The at-large berths were determined by the final NAIA Volleyball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll released earlier today.

Defending national champion and No. 2 -ranked Concordia (Calif.) qualified after winning the Golden State Athletic Conference tournament with a thrilling 3-2 win over No. 3-ranked Biola (Calif.) on Saturday. With a 23-2 overall record, the Eagles are trying to become the sixth different team to win back-to-back national championships.

Five teams punched their first-ever ticket into the National Championship: Cardinal Stritch (Wis.), Lourdes (Ohio), Midland (Neb.), Park (Mo.) and Wayland Baptist (Okla.). Last year, five newcomers also participated in the event.

Three qualifiers have won at least one previous national championship: Columbia (Mo.) (3), Concordia (1) and Texas at Brownsville (1). Former member Brigham Young-Hawaii holds the most in NAIA history with eight.

Columbia is the active leader in both championship appearances at 20 and playoff wins with a 79-38 record. Five other clubs will be playing in their 10th-or-more postseason: Biola (Calif.) (13), Dordt (Iowa) (10), Georgetown (Ky.) (16), Madonna (Mich.) (13) and Northwestern (Iowa) (11).

Madonna (Mich.) and Texas at Brownsville enter the championship as the only undefeated teams. The Crusaders sport a 38-0 mark, while Texas at Brownsville sits at 31-0. Other notable active win streaks to mention are Spring Hill’s (Ala.) 27-gamer and Xavier’s (La.) 20-game streak.

NeuLion, the NAIA’s official video-streaming company of select NAIA national championship events, will be broadcasting all 47 matches of the 2013 Volleyball National Championship in Sioux City. For the first time ever, all pool play matches from Dec. 3 – 5, in addition to bracket play through the championship final Dec. 7 will be streamed live. Single day packages can be purchased for $9.95, while an all-tournament pass is available for $24.95. For more information and to pre-register, click here.

For more information on the 2013 NAIA Volleyball National Championship Opening Round and National Championship final site, click here.

2013 Volleyball National Championship Qualifiers