Griffon Volley secures spot in NCAA Tournament, St. Cloud State awaits in first round

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- Missouri Western Volleyball has officially qualified for the NCAA Tournament after a successful 21-win season and now looks to make a deep run in December.

For the second consecutive year, the Griffons (21-7, 13-3 MIAA) are tournament-bound, this year as a No. 5-seed matched up against No. 4-seed St. Cloud State (26-6, 18-2 NSIC).

The Griffons will travel to Kearney, Nebraska, to face off with the Huskies on Thursday, Dec. 4 at 4:30 p.m., the third game in the tournament. The No. 1 seed Nebraska Kearney will host the entire regional bracket.

The Griffons, ranked No. 17 in the country this year, capped off the regular season with seven wins over Top-25 ranked opponents. MoWest is led by junior Anna Weberg and Emma Salker. Weberg is ranked third in the conference in digs (5.13 digs per set) while Stalker is ranked fifth in blocks (1.17 blocks per set).

The team was able to advance to the NCAA -- their fourth in program history -- despite a tough loss in the first round of the MIAA Tournament last week in St. Joseph. The season also included a share of the regular season MIAA Championship.

A full bracket for the NCAA Volleyball Tournament can be found on the NCAA's website.

NCAA Central Region Tournament Breakdown:

Location: UNK Health and Fitness Center, 2501 15th Ave., Kearney, Nebraska.

Thursday, Dec. 4
11 a.m. - No. 3 Wayne State (27-4) vs. No. 6 Washburn University (27-4)
1:30 p.m. - Concordia-St. Paul (26-5) vs. No. 7 University of Central Oklahoma (27-5)
4:30 p.m. No. 4 St. Cloud State (26-6) vs. No. 5 Missouri Western (21-7)
7 p.m. - No. 1 University of Nebraska-Kearney (29-3) vs. No. 8 Oklahoma Baptist (22-9)
 
Friday, Dec. 5
4 p.m. - WSC/WU Winner vs. CU/UCO Winner
7 p.m. - SCSU/MW Winner Vs. UNK/OBU Winner
 
Saturday, Dec. 6
5 p.m. - Championship Match