INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Gallaudet University women’s volleyball team (21-11) will travel to Rochester, N.Y., to face ninth-ranked Juniata College (28-1) in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Division III women’s volleyball championship on Friday, Nov. 12, at 3 p.m. on the campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
The Bison earned the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament after they won the United East championship tournament this past weekend in Reading, Pa. The Bison defeated Penn State Harrisburg in the semifinals and SUNY Morrisville in the championship of the two-day conference tournament. This is Gallaudet’s first conference title since 2016 and the eighth as a member of the United East. GU won seven straight titles from 2010-16 when the conference used to be known as the North Eastern Athletic Conference. The Bison hold a 2-12 all-time record in their 12 appearances in the NCAA tournament. This is the ninth time GU has appeared in the NCAA tournament under head coach Lynn Ray Boren, who is now in his 16th season.
Juniata won its 40th consecutive conference championship and brings a 27-match winning streak into Friday’s showdown with the Bison. The Eagles defeated University of Scranton in straight sets last Saturday to clinch the Landmark Conference automatic qualifier. Juniata is making its 39th NCAA tournament appearance where the Eagles have an impressive 109-45 (.708) record. The Eagles are the only program to play in every NCAA Division III women’s volleyball tournament since it began in 1981. Juniata won the national title in 2004 and 2006 and has been national runner-up six other times (1981, ’93, ’96, ’97, 2005, ’09). Juniata has finished third an astounding 11 times and seven times the Eagles placed fourth. In fact, in Juniata’s 38 appearances to date they have placed in the top four over 68 percent of the time.
RIT is one of the eight regional hosts. The other first round matches at RIT will feature Babson (22-7) vs. Endicott (21-8) at 12:30 p.m., Wesleyan (Conn.) (17-6) vs. Scranton (25-7) at 5:30 p.m. followed by RIT (24-4) vs. Framingham St. (16-15) at 8 p.m. The winners will advance to Saturday’s second round which begins at 2:30 p.m. and the regional final on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Gallaudet and Juniata have three common opponents this season in Catholic, Goucher and Mary Washington. The Bison went 2-1 vs. those three teams with their lone loss against the Eagles from Mary Washington. Juniata’s only loss this season…
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