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LCSC to play Shawnee State in opening round
The Lewis-Clark State College women’s volleyball team came up short in its attempt to receive an opening-round bye and will open the 36-team NAIA National Championships at home against Shawnee State of Ohio, it was announced Sunday.
The NAIA released its final poll on Sunday and the Warriors remained at No. 14, the same position it held last week. Only the top 12-ranked teams in the NAIA poll, which included the host team Morningside College, received first-round byes and advance to Sioux City, Iowa for pool play. The remaining 24 qualifiers meet in 12 first-round games at host sites on Saturday. The 12 winners also advance to Sioux City for pool play on Dec. 2-6.
LCSC enters the national tournament with a 28-2 record and is the only team from the Frontier Conference to receive a berth. The Warriors won the conference tournament over the weekend at home, including a wild three-set sweep of Rocky Mountain in the title match. Rocky, which finished 19-8, did not receive a vote in the final Top 25 poll.
“We’re excited and honored to be a part of the national tournament,” LCSC assistant coach Burdette Greeny said. “We’re really excited to have another opportunity to play at home in front of our great fans.”
The match time for the Shawnee State-LCSC contest will be determined on Monday. The LCSC women’s basketball team is playing host to the Staples Classic with games at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday, so the a couple of the options being considered are moving the basketball games to earlier in the afternoon and playing the volleyball match at night, or possible playing the volleyball match that afternoon and move the start times of the basketball games to later.
Shawnee State is 38-2 on the season but only received five points in the NAIA Top 25 poll, which left it unranked. The team won its first American Mideast Conference Tournament championship in school history when they defeated Ohio Dominican on Saturday. This also will be Shawnee State’s first appearance in the NAIA tournament.
More information, including ticket prices, will be released by the LCSC athletic department on Monday.
Below is a list of the first-round games and the final NAIA poll.
First-round games
St. Thomas (Texas) at Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) Shawnee State (Ohio) at Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) Asbury (Ky.) at Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) Indiana Wesleyan at Dordt (Iowa) Union (Tenn.) at Vanguard (Calif.) Indiana Tech at King (Tenn.) Menlo (Calif.) at College of Idaho Webber International (Fla.) at Mobile (Ala.) Bethel (Kan.) at Doane (Neb.) Lee (Tenn.) at Walsh (Ohio) Wiley (Texas) at Lubbock Christian (Texas) William Penn (Iowa) at Black Hills State (S.D.)
2008 Final Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – Nov. 16
RANK LAST WEEK SCHOOL 1ST PLACE VOTES WON LOST TOTAL POINTS 1 1 Fresno Pacific University (Calif.) 25 29 0 715 2 2 Biola University (Calif.) 27 3 692 3 3 Concordia University (Calif.) 26 5 666 4 4 Bellevue University (Neb.) 30 4 647 5 5 Columbia College (Mo.) 39 3 625 6 6 Georgetown College (Ky.) 33 6 601 7 7 California Baptist University 24 8 578 8 8 Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) 22 10 553 9 10 Lindenwood University (Mo.) 34 7 523 10 9 Northwestern College (Iowa) 27 7 499 11 11 Madonna University (Mich.) 35 4 489 12 12 Morningside College (Iowa) 36 4 467 13 13 Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) 18 9 436 14 14 Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho) 28 2 410 15 16 Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) 36 9 390 16 15 Dordt College (Iowa) 31 7 380 17 17 Vanguard University (Calif.) 15 10 346 18 19 Indiana Institute of Technology 31 3 323 19 21 College of Idaho (Idaho) 23 7 306 20 23 University of Mobile (Ala.) 32 3 254 21 24 Walsh University (Ohio) 28 10 242 22 22 Doane College (Neb.) 26 8 224 23 RV Indiana Wesleyan University 27 14 197 24 25 Lubbock Christian University (Texas) 32 4 173 25 18 Taylor University (Ind.) 32 8 158
Others Receiving Votes: Webber International (Fla.) 98; Southern Oregon 91; Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 83; Hastings (Neb.) 68; Black Hills State (S.D.) 43; Campbellsville (Ky.) 41; King (Tenn.) 32; Lee (Tenn.) 31; Oregon Tech 8; Menlo (Calif.) 5; Shawnee State (Ohio) 5; Union (Tenn.) 5; Jamestown (N.D.) 4; Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 3; Ozarks (Mo.) 3; Missouri Baptist 1.
Bert Sahlberg

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