The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced today the pairings for the 2017 NAIA Volleyball National Championship Opening Round. Texas Wesleyan University (26-4) has been selected to host Campbellsville University (26-8) this Saturday, Nov. 18. The match is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start in the Sid Richardson Center.

Admission is free and the Lady Rams invite all fans to pack “The Sid” full of Ramily!

This is the tenth time in school history the volleyball program has reached the national tournament, and the first since 2005.

Texas Wesleyan earned an automatic bid to the National Championship Opening Round as the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) Tournament runner-up. The Rams rank 15th in the nation with a hitting percentage of .244. Tierra Coverson is 16th in the nation with 1.18 blocks per game. Shelby Stinnett will add to her 1,421 career kills and 1,369 digs. The senior All-American also has 45 career double-doubles.  

The Lady Tigers earned an at-large berth into the NAIA National Championship after taking a runner-up finish in the Mid-South Conference Tournament. This is the program’s first appearance in the national tournament.

The top-20 teams to make the tournament received byes, and the remaining 12 that make up the opening round field will play at NAIA home sites, with the winners advancing to Sioux City, IA.

Can’t make it to the game? We’ve got you covered. The game will be featured live on RamSports.net/LIVE. Free live stats will also be available.

Ramblings

• Each of the program’s last two national tournament appearances saw the Rams advance to the Quarterfinal Round (2004-2005).
• Texas Wesleyan Volleyball finished as the NAIA National Runner-up in both 1982 and 1990. They advanced to the final four in 1987 and 1988.
• Two SAC teams advanced to the Opening Round. SAC Champion Oklahoma City will play an Opening Round contest at Our Lady of the Lake University.