KANSAS CITY, Mo. –The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics has officially announced the qualifying teams and Opening Round pairings for the 2020 NAIA Women’s Volleyball National Championship presented by Marriot South Sioux City Riverfront. The 48-team event will get underway with 24 National Championship Opening Round matches at campus locations on April 17.

After opening rounds, the action inside the Tyson Events Center starts with two days of pool play from April 27-28. The top team in each pool will advance to the elimination bracket on April 29, the semifinals will be played on April 30 and the national champion will be crowned May 1 with the first serve set for 7 p.m. CST on ESPN3.

This year’s field includes 36 automatic qualifiers and 12 at-large selections. The automatic berths are determined by regular-season champions or runner-ups, conference tournament title winners or runner-ups, or by conference selection. The remaining at-large bids were determined by the final regular-season Women’s Volleyball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll announced Monday. Final site pools will be determined on Sunday, April 18, and released by 5 p.m. CST

The NAIA Network – the association’s official video-streaming home – will broadcast all matches excluding the semifinals and championship matches live at the 2020 NAIA Volleyball National Championship final site in Sioux City, Iowa. The video platform, powered by Stretch Internet, allows users access to live video, statistics and social interaction on a number of devices, including mobile. Single-day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while a pool play pass is $24.95 (April 27-28) and a championship package is available at $39.95.

The semifinal and championship matches will be streamed via ESPN3.

Qualifier Highlights

• The Great Plains Athletic Conference brings in the highest number of qualifiers the field with five qualifying teams: Concordia (Neb.), Dordt (Iowa), Jamestown (N.D.), Midland (Neb.) and Northwestern (Iowa).
• The Heart of America Athletic Conference and the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference follow with four teams that advanced into the qualifying field.
• There are seven teams in the 2020 championship field that are qualifying for the first time: Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.), Bushnell (Ore.), Cottey (Mo.), Keiser (Fla.), Mayville State (N.D.), UC Merced (Calif.) and William Woods (Mo.).
• There are 12 teams in the 2020 field that are making their 10^th or higher appearance at the national championship: Georgetown (Ky.), Madonna (Mich.), Northwestern (Iowa), Dordt (Iowa), Westmont (Calif.), Bellevue (Neb.), Missouri Baptist, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), Texas Wesleyan, Grand View (Iowa), Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) and  Xavier (La.).
• Georgetown (Ky.) holds the highest number of appearances in the tournament field with 21.
• The 2019 national champion Marian (Ind.) returns to the championship field as the Crossroads League tournament runner-up.
• There are three teams in the 2020 field that have previously won a title: Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) (2017), Marian (Ind.) (2019) and Park (Mo.) (2014, 2018).
• Park (Mo.) is the only team in the tournament field to have won more than one title.
• Indiana and Missouri yield the highest number of championship qualifiers with five each. Kansas follows with four qualifiers.
• Twenty-six teams that qualified for the 2020 national championship after competing in the 2019 championship.
• Bethel (Ind.) returns to the championship field after a 22-year drought. The Pilots return to the national championship for the first time since 1998.

Qualifier Information

Opening Round Pairings