Women’s volleyball makes 16th trip to NCAA tournament

Round 1 match is against Rivier University on Friday, Nov. 14th

By Mindy Brauer Nov. 14, 2014

7114 volleyball — Meryl E. Gibbs ’16 leaps to spike the ball during Sunday’s NEWMAC championship game against second seed Babson College, which they lost by a slim margin during the last match. Regardless, the team, 27-5 for the season, received a bid for the NCAA tournament this past Monday.
Daniel Mirny—The Tech

The MIT women’s volleyball team will be making the program’s 16th appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament after receiving an at-large bid on Monday morning. The Engineers will square off with Rivier University on Friday, November 14 at Williams College. The meeting will be the first between both squads in post-season action and sixth overall since the series began in 2009. In addition to the host Ephs, the rest of the regional bracket features Sage Colleges, Babson College, Colby-Sawyer College, Bowdoin College, and Regis College.

MIT (27-5) returns to the national scene for the second time in three years after advancing to the finals of the NEWMAC Championship Tournament this past weekend. As the No. 1 seed, the Engineers swept No. 5 Wellesley College, 25-13, 25-17, 25-23, in the semifinals but fell to No. 2 Babson, 25-23, 25-23, 19-25, 20-25, 15-12, in Sunday’s title match.

Rivier (28-6) secured its second straight Great Northeast Atlantic Conference title by blanking Anna Maria College, (25-13, 25-14, 25-7) in the quarterfinals and topping Simmons College (25-17, 25-12, 24-26, 25-13) before fighting off Johnson and Wales University, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 25-16, in the championship.

Fans can follow the action with streaming video and live stats of all matches held at Williams throughout the weekend.