KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Lewis-Clark State College women’s volleyball team has been seeded ninth in the 20-team NAIA Volleyball National Championships, which takes place Nov. 28-Dec. 1 at Columbia College in Columbia, Mo. 

The Warriors, 25-6 overall, are making their eighth appearance in the national tournament and first since 1999. The team’s best finish came during the 1998 season when it advanced to the semifinals before losing to eventual runner-up Northwest Nazarene. 

The national tournament features five four-team pools. Each team will face the other teams in its pool and the top two finishers in each pool advance to the single-elimination format. Pool play will be held the first two days and the single-elimination format is the final two days. 

California Baptist, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, is the top-ranked team in LCSC’s pool. The remaining two teams in the pool are the University of Texas-Brownsville, and the University of Virginia-Wise. 

The Warriors will open pool play on Nov. 28 at 9:15 a.m., PDT, against Texas-Brownsville.  On Nov. 29, the Warriors face Virginia-Wise at 7 a.m., and wrap up pool play against California Baptist at 4 p.m. 

California Baptist stands 27-4 overall and has been the No. 2 ranked team in the NAIA since mid-September. The team has lost all three meetings to No. 1-ranked Fresno Pacific, including in the Region II title match last weekend. California Baptist’s only other loss was to Western Washington, an NCAA Division II school. 

California Baptist is making its fourth straight national tournament appearance and 11th overall. It won the national title in 2004 and ’05, and finished third last season. 

Texas-Brownsville is 33-7 and didn’t lose a game in six matches while winning both the Red River Conference Tournament and also the Region VI Tournament. Texas-Brownsville was ranked No. 18 in the final NAIA poll. 

It’s the first time Texas-Brownsville has qualified for the NAIA national tournament, but that’s in part because the school was a junior college until two years ago. 

Virginia-Wise, 25-13 also is making its first trip to the national tournament. The Cavaliers were the No. 5 seed in the six-team Region XII tournament, but stunned top seed King College in the semifinals and then defeated No. 3 Bryan College in the championship match. 

Virginia-Wise was picked to finish seventh in the Appalachian Athletic Conference, but wound up finishing fourth. The Cavaliers came on at the right time to finish second in the conference tournament and then beat King College for the first time on the road en route to the regional title. Virginia-Wise did not receive a vote in the final Top 25 poll, which came out prior to the regional tournament. 

California schools from the Golden State Athletic Conference, which held the top five positions for most of the season, earned the top four seeds in the tournament, while defending champion National American of South Dakota is the No. 5 seed. Westminster, also from the Frontier Conference like LCSC, is the No. 11 seed and will be in the same pool as top seed Fresno Pacific, which held down the No. 1 ranking all season and is undefeated at 34-0. 

LCSC’s previous seven tournament appearances came in 1988, 1989, 1994, and 1996-99. 

The Warriors will work out Tuesday morning and then break for the holidays before returning to practice after Thanksgiving.  

NAIA VOLLEYBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 

Pool A – #1 seed Fresno Pacific, #10 Northwestern (Iowa). #11 Westminster (Utah), #20 Canton (N.Y.)

Pool B – #2 California Baptist, #9 Lewis-Clark State. #12 Texas-Brownsville. #19 Virginia-Wise.

Pool C – #3 Concordia (Calif.), #8 Mt. Vernon Nazarene (Ohio), #13 Madonna (Mich.), #18 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.)

Pool D – #4 Biola (Calif.) #7 Columbia (Mo.) #14 Campbellsville (Ky.), #17 Mobile (Ala.).

Pool E – #5 National American (S.D.), #6 Lindenwood (Mo.), #15 Savannah College of Art and Design (Ga.), #16 Bellevue (Neb.).