Nov 03, 2022

Lopers host upset minded Missouri Southern Friday night

Posted Nov 03, 2022 11:17 AM

The Nebraska Kearney volleyball team is fifth in the second edition of the NCAA Regional Rankings.

These rankings determine the NCAA Tournament field which will be announced on Sunday, Nov. 13. The field consists of 64 teams from eight regions. UNK and the MIAA are in the Central Region along with the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conf. (NSIC) and Great American Conf. (GAC). The conference tourney winners receive an auto bid to the NCAA’s with national rankings having no bearing on the NCAA selection process.

UNK has a 22-4 Division II record and an 18-4 Central Region mark. The Lopers are 3-5 against the current Central Top 10 with Pittsburg State (15-13) and Missouri Southern (13-14) visiting the Health & Sports Center this Thursday and Friday nights to close out the regular season. MSSU upset Central Missouri Tuesday in Warrensburg; the Lions also have two wins over Washburn.

The top seed in the region hosts the first three rounds of the NCAA Tourney/Central Regional Nov. 17-19. Wayne State is at Concordia-St. Paul this Saturday in a big NSIC match. WSC is 2-0 vs. the Golden Bears to date and they could face each other again in the NSIC Tourney which is in St. Paul this year.

            Seed/School                In-Region         D2        National Rank

  1. Wayne State                21-1                 26-1     2nd
  2. Concordia-St. Paul      18-3                 23-3     3rd
  3. Minnesota-Duluth       19-3                 23-3     5th
  4. Northwest Missouri    15-3                 21-5     10th
  5. UNK                             18-4                 22-4     12th
  6. Central Missouri         16-4                 18-8     24th
  7. Southwest Minn. St.    17-5                 21-5     7th
  8. Central Oklahoma       21-5                 23-5     21st
  9. Washburn                    14-6                 20-6     17th
  10. St. Cloud State             15-5                 21-5     8th

The GAC Tourney Champ will be in the top eight