The Lady Cardinals and 15 other teams begin a four-day journey today at the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kan., that will ultimately lead one of them to a national volleyball championship.

The 2023 NJCAA DI Volleyball National Tournament is scheduled to start at  10 a.m. and continue through the championship match Saturday at 7 p.m. All matches except the semifinals and championship will be streamed online at https://www.njcaa.org/network (a subscription fee is required).

Action for the Region XIV champion Lady Cardinals begins at 7 tonight. Coach Aleah Hayes' squad, 30-5 on the year and riding a 12-game winning streak, is set to play Daytona State (20-9). Daytona State is the No. 12 seed.

"The ladies are pretty confident going into the tournament," Hayes said Monday via phone at the Cardinal Pride Luncheon. "We have great chemistry and are playing well together.

"With the confidence I see in them and the level at which we are playing, this has a chance to be a special week. We are ready."

The Lady Cardinals are at the tournament for a second straight year and third time overall. They finished eighth last year and were fifth in 2018.

Winner of the TVCC-Daytona State match advances to the quarterfinals Thursday at 7 p.m. against the winner of the Salt Lake-Indian Hills contest, which is also to be played at 7 tonight.

Daytona State is no stranger to the Lady Cardinals. In tournament action in Fort Myers, Fla., back in September, they scored a 3-2 win against Daytona State, which was their eighth straight win to start the season. The Lady Cardinals prevailed, 25-21, 25-14, 24-26, 11-25, 15-11.

Nineteen of the Lady Cardinals' 30 wins have been by 3-0 scores, including all three in the regional tournament (for a second straight year) and eight of the last nine matches.

The Lady Cardinals are one win away from matching the school record for wins in a season, which is 31 set in 2014 and 2022.

The Lady Cardinals have played eight of the tournament's field of 16, including Navarro and Blinn each three times. They were 8-4 in those matches.

Defending champion Florida SouthWestern is the tournament's No. 1 seed and would likely be the Lady Cardinals' semifinal opponent should they advance to Friday unscathed. The Lady Cardinals fell 3-0 to Florida SouthWestern earlier this season.

First things first, though, and that's Daytona State tonight at 7.