MARSHALL, Texas – Headed to Virginia for their second straight appearance in the NCAA Division III National Tournament, no. 9 East Texas Baptist University will play in the Newport News Regional Tournament hosted by Christopher Newport University. ETBU earned their automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with a five-set win over the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament.
"We are super blessed and really excited to get to go to Virginia as it is somewhere new we haven't been able to go with this team yet," said head coach
Mallory Matthews. "We have a great bracket ahead of us and high-level volleyball to go play. We are really pumped."
ETBU will face Allegheny on Thursday, November 21, at 4:30 p.m. Eastern in the third match of the day at CNU. It will be the first meeting of the two teams. Allegheny earned an automatic bid by winning the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) over Saint Vincent in three sets. They are 26-5 and won the PAC regular season championship, going 10-0, and have an 11-match winning streak. Also in the regional will be CNU (host), Washington and Lee (Va.), John Jay (N.Y.), Stevens (Pa.), Gallaudet (DC), and William Paterson (N.J.).
Coming off a hard-fought, five-set win against Mary Hardin-Baylor, ETBU has won 27 matches in a row and has a 28-match winning streak in Ornelas Gym. After a five-set loss to then no. 8 Trinity in San Antonio, ETBU has reeled off 27 wins, with 15 matches going three or more sets and four matches won in five sets.
Other teams ETBU has faced that made the NCAA Tournament are Trinity (TX), Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, and College of Saint Benedict. ETBU fell to Trinity in the second match of the year in five sets, defeated CMS in California in five sets, and won over CSB in the first match of the season, 3-0.
This is ETBU's fifth NCAA Tournament appearance and second under Matthews. ETBU went to three straight NCAA Tournaments in 201, 2002, and 2003 before making it in 2023. They are now second in the ASC for most appearances with five and hold a 3-4 record in the post-season, making it to the second round three times in program history.
The Newport News Regional Tournament starts on Thursday, November 21, and concludes with the championship match on Saturday, November 23.
AVCA National Rankings (Nov. 12)
ETBU | #9
Washington & Lee | #12
NPI Rankings
Washington & Lee | #6 (Region 6)
ETBU | #12 (Region 10)
CNU | #19 (Region 6)
Stevens | #31 (Region 4)
Gallaudet | #36 (Region 4)
William Paterson | #47 (Region 4)
Allegheny | #59 (Region 7)
John Jay | #166 (Region 4)
