While the big schools were beating each other up in the regular season, there was huge drama Saturday in the conference tournaments, where it was one and done for almost all concerned.
The first team to claim a spot Saturday in the NCAA bracket was Quinnipiac, the No. 6 seed In the MAAC tournament, a group of Bobcats that includes a 5-foot-4 hitter who had three blocks.
By the time Saturday ended, FGCU had the ASUN bid, Towson won the CAA, Yale was the Ivy League champion, FDU won the NEC, sixth-seeded Tennessee State won the OVC, and Stephen F. Austin was the WAC champion.
Quinnipiac and FCU are in the for the first time and Tennessee State is back for the first time since 2007.
TOURNEYS SUNDAY: Eleven more conference titles and the NCAA bids that go with them will be earned.
— Conference USA, top-seeded and 20th-ranked Western Kentucky vs. second-seeded and No. 22 Rice;
— America East, No. 4 New Hampshire vs. No. 2 Bryant
— Atlantic 10, No, 1 Loyola vs. No. Dayton
— Big South, No. 1 Campbell vs. No. 2 High Point
— Horizon League, No. 1 Wright State vs. No. 2 Northern Kentucky
— MEAC, No. 1 Coppin State vs. No. 3 Delaware State
— Patriot League, No. 1 Colgate vs. third-seeded Navy
— SWAC, No. 1 Alabama State vs. No. 2 Florida A&M
— SoCon, No. 2 Samford vs. No. 8 Furman
— Southland, No. 2 Southeastern Louisiana vs. No. 3 Houston Christian
— Sun Belt, No. 1E James Madison vs. No. 1W Texas State
Two more tournaments begin Sunday when the MAC Championship gets under way at Ball State with third-seeded Ohio vs. No. 6 Buffalo and No. 4 Central Michigan playing No. 5 Toledo. Ball State and Bowling Green await the winners for Monday’s semifinals. The Missouri Valley pits No. 5 Evansville vs. No. 8 Bradley and No. 6 Valparaiso vs. No. 7 Murray State. The winners play Southern Illinois and UIC, and those winners advance to Tuesday’s semifinals against UNI and Drake.
Want to watch a match? We have the viewing links on the VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings page.
ASUN: Second-seeded FGCU (26-6) beat top-seeded Liberty (23-8) as five players had six or more kills in the 25-18, 25-22, 25-15 victory. Lauren Clark has seven kills and seven blocks.
Defending champion FGCU also wen to the NCAA Tournament in 2018, when the Eagles beat Texas Tech.
CAA: Top-seeded Towson (29-1) swept third-seeded Delaware (17-11) for its fourth title in a row. Towson hit .350…
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