When the 2018 NJCAA Volleyball Championship Tournament gets under way in Hutchinson, KS later this week, the Lady Cardinals will be one of two first-time teams making an appearance on the big stage.
Coach Tosha Spain's squad, 25-6, earned one of two at-large berths to the 16-team event and drew a No. 9 seed. The Lady Cardinals and Navarro, which finished runner-up at the Region XIV Tournament last week, is the other team at nationals for the first time.
The Lady Cardinals are scheduled to face No. 8 Mineral Area in the opening round Thursday at 1 p.m. Mineral Area, making its fourth national tournament appearance, is 27-3 on the year.
The winner of the TVCC-Mineral Area game advances to face the No. 1 Miami Dade-No. 16 Monroe winner at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Miami Dade is 29-1 and the two-time defending national champion. The losers of the opening round games will square off at noon Friday.
2018 NJCAA VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
OPENING ROUND PAIRINGS
9 a.m. – (11) Snow vs. (6) Seward County
9 a.m. -- (14) Wallace State vs. (3) Polk State
11 a.m. – (15) Laramie County vs. (2) Southern Idaho
11 a.m. – (10) New Mexico Military vs. (7) Tyler
1 p.m. – (9) Trinity Valley vs. (8) Mineral Area
1 p.m. – (16) Monroe vs. (1) Miami Dade
3 p.m. – (12) Hill vs. (5) Iowa Western
3 p.m. – (12) Northeastern vs. (4) Navarro
(Seedings in Parenthesis)
Games will continue Friday on two courts in the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
Here is the schedule of games for the 10 teams advancing to Saturday:
10:00 a.m. -- 9th Place Match
12:00 p.m. -- 7th Place Match
2:30 p.m. -- 5th Place Match
4:30 p.m -- 3rd Place Match
6:30 p.m -- Championship
All national tournament games will be available online at www.njcaatv.com. A purchase fee will be required.