Emory Volleyball Earns 14th Straight NCAA Tournament Bid

The Emory University volleyball team has earned its 14th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance and will play either Trinity University or Randolph-Macon College on Friday.  The Eagles are part of the seven-team bracket that will be hosted by Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.  Emory enters the Southwestern Regional as the No. 1 seed and drew a first-round bye. If Emory passes its opening test, it will advance to the regional finals on Saturday.   Times for all matches will be announced later this week.

Other opening-round match-ups that will be played on Thursday include Southwestern against the University of Dallas, University of Texas-Dallas vs. Maryville College and Trinity vs. Randolph-Macon.

Emory finished the regular season with an overall record of 34-5, the seventh time in the past eight campaigns that the program has registered 30 or more victories.  The Eagles earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament following a first-place performance at the University Athletic Association Championships this past weekend in Chicago.  It was the program's third UAA crown in the past five seasons.  The Eagles will enter this weekend's action on a hot streak with wins in their last 13 consecutive matches.   

The Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon, coached by Bill Rogers, take an overall record of 26-8 into the NCAA Tournament with the victory total a school season record. R-MC earned an automatic to the NCAAs after claiming the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship, defeating Roanoke College by a 3-1 margin in the title match.

Trinity University, ranked No. 17 in the nation in last week's national poll, stands 27-11 following a third-place showing at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship.  The Tigers are led by 23^rd-year head coach Julie Jenkins who has compiled an impressive 604-278 record during her tenure at Trinity.  The is the 18^th trip to the national tournament for the program.

Host Southwestern University has won its last 31 matches and posts an overall slate of 33-3.  Sixth-year coach Hannah Long owns a record of 191-44 and has led the program to five consecutive NCAA Tournament berths.  The Pirates earned an automatic bid to the postseason after it captured the SCAC Tournament.  Emory defeated Southwestern last year in the regional final that was held at Trinity University.

The University of Dallas, a member of the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC), owns an overall mark of 20-19 and earned a spot in the postseason field for the first time after topping SUNY-IT, 3-0, in the NEAC Championship.  Calling the shots for the Crusaders is fourth-year head coach Rachel Hanson.

Maryville College boasts a record of 25-9 after winning the Great South Athletic Conference Tournament, defeating Piedmont, 3-1, in the championship match.  The win allowed Maryville to qualify for an automatic bid to the national tournament, the program's ninth in school history and first since 2006.  Head Coach Kandis Schram is in her 24^th season with the Lady Scots and has a school record of 578-307.

UT-Dallas, the lone remaining unbeaten Division III team, will meet Maryville with a
25-0 record.  The Comets, ranked No. 10 on the national scene, won their second straight American Southwest Conference Championship last weekend.  Sixth-year head Marci Sanders is the only coach the school has known since launching the program in 2004.  Sanders has led the program to four consecutive 20-win campaigns.

SEE COMPLETE D-III NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET

NOTES - Emory faced nine teams that earned spots in this year's NCAA field and chalked up a 9-2 won-lost slate in those contests ... This will represent Emory's 15th trip to the NCAA Tournament (other appearance came in 1994) with the Eagles posting an all-time record of 22-14 in those contests. Last season Emory won its first national title, defeating Colorado College and Southwestern in regional play before topping St. Benedict in the quarterfinals, Ohio Northern in the semifinals and La Verne in the national title match ... The Eagles are one of three UAA teams to earn NCAA Tournament bids - the other two are Washington University and New York University ... Both Wash U. and NYU will host regional play ... Emory head coach Jenny McDowell is in her 14^th year at the helm of the program and has a school and career ledger of 440-117 ... Despite missing three starters and two reserves due to an intestinal virus that swept through the team late Friday and into early hours on Saturday, the Eagles were able to edge the University of Chicago, 3-2, before defeating No. 3-ranked Washington University, 3-0, in the UAA Championship match Saturday night ... Junior Amelia McCall turned in a big weekend for the Eagles, playing in all 14 of the team's sets and averaging a team-high 3.36 kills per set while hitting an impressive 36.0 percent (47-7--111) ... McCall led the team with 15 terminations in the Chicago and Wash U. matches ... Sophomore Ali Wright tied her season high with 13 kills in the Carnegie Mellon match.