NAPERVILLE, Ill. – College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament champion North Park and regular-season runner up Millikin are in the NCAA Division III Women’s Volleyball Tournament, according to an announcement from the NCAA Monday afternoon. North Park will travel to #5 Northwestern-St. Paul and Millikin will square off against #9 WashU in Grand Rapids, Mich.
The Vikings (23-8) are in the tournament for the first time and will face Northwestern-St. Paul (30-2) on its home floor after the Eagles won the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships. UNW downed Bethany Lutheran in the semifinal and Wisconsin-Superior in the final of the UMAC Tournament over the weekend. The Eagles have not played a CCIW opponent since defeating Illinois Wesleyan in the first round of last season’s NCAA Tournament on Nov. 11, 2021.
Thursday’s match is the first-ever meeting between the Vikings and Eagles.
The winner of Thursday’s match will advance to square off against either #15 Wisconsin-Stevens Point or #21 Coe. The other four teams in the regional are #14 Gustavus Adolphus, #17 Wisconsin-Eau Claire, #12 Wisconsin-Whitewater and Cornell
Millikin (23-10), which was receiving votes in last Monday’s AVCA poll, is in the field for the ninth time in program history and the first time since 2017. The Big Blue earned an at-large bid and will play WashU (29-5) on Thursday in a regional hosted by Calvin. The Big Blue and Bears are familiar foes, having met 10 times since 2011. The Bears downed MU on Oct. 8 of this season, 25-20, 25-23, 26-24 at the WashU Invite in St. Louis.
Either #11 Wittenberg or #16 Hope will await the winner of the Big Blue’s match with the Bears on Friday, Nov. 11. Host Calvin, Aurora, Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Otterbein are on the other side of the bracket in Grand Rapids.
The eight regional winners will advance to the quarterfinals set to begin Nov. 16 in Pittsburgh. The semifinal round is Nov. 17 and the national championship match is Saturday, Nov. 19 in Pittsburgh.
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The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services nine member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, Ill.), Carroll University (Waukesha, Wis.), Carthage College (Kenosha, Wis.), Elmhurst University (Elmhurst, Ill.), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, Ill.), Millikin University (Decatur, Ill.), North Central College (Naperville, Ill.), North Park University (Chicago, Ill.) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, Ill.).