NAIA Championship Fields Announced
The NAIA has announced the participants in the volleyball, and men’s and women’s soccer tournaments.
For volleyball, there are 36 automatic qualifiers and 12 at-large selections. They will meet in 24 first-round matches this Saturday, with the winners advancing to the final site at Sioux City, Iowa, starting November 30th. Columbia College will host Ottawa of Kansas; Central Methodist will host St. Xavier of Illinois; Missouri Baptist will host Bryan of Tennessee; and Park will host Cumberland of Tennessee.
The men’s and women’s soccer tournament each have 27 automatic qualifiers and 13 at-large selections in ten four-team brackets, being played this Thursday and Saturday. Men’s winners advance to final site in Decatur, Alabama starting November 29th, while the women head to Orange Beach. The Central Methodist men and women will both be top seeds and host a bracket at Battle High School. The men will play Saint Mary’s of Kansas, while Olivet Nazarene of Illinois and Rio Grande of Ohio meet in the 2-3 game. The women will play Cardinal Stritch of Wisconsin, while Aquinas of Michigan plays Jamestown of North Dakota.
Missouri Valley’s men are also a top seed and will host Cardinal Stritch of Wisconsin. Williams Baptist of Arkansas will play Madonna of Michigan. Missouri Valley’s women are also a top seed but will travel to Prescott, Arizona. and will play Reinhardt of Georgia. The hosts, Embry-Riddle, will play Northwest Washington.
Columbia College’s men will be the 2 seed in the Hattiesburg, Mississippi, bracket, facing Taylor of Indiana first. William Carey plays Kansas Wesleyan. The women will be the 2 seed in the Lawrenceville, Georgia, bracket, facing Indiana Wesleyan first. Georgia Gwinnett plays Vanguard of California.
