2019 National Championship Bracket
ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Since the College of Saint Benedict volleyball team was a part of one of the two NCAA Regional Tournament sites that wrapped up tournament play Saturday, the team had a bit of a wait before finding out who it would play in the program's third-ever NCAA Elite 8 appearance.
After the other six regional tournaments wrapped up Sunday, it was announced late Sunday night by the NCAA that CSB is the No. 7 seed at 2019 NCAA Division III National Championships, and takes on second-seeded Johns Hopkins in the tournament quarterfinals. Saint Benedict and the Blue Jays play at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
In the other half of the bracket, third-seeded Calvin takes on No. 6 Trinity at 8 p.m. Thursday. In the morning games, top-seeded Emory plays Clarkson at 12:30 p.m. and No. 4 Carthage and No. 5 Bowdoin play at 3 p.m. The CSB/Johns Hopkins winner plays the Trinity/Calvin winner at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, and the 2019 NCAA Division III National Championship match is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23.
Saint Benedict advanced to the championship site after three close matches in the region tournament – including a pair of 3-2 wins against Northwestern and UW-Stevens Point. Johns Hopkins, on the other hand, won all three of its region matches 3-0 – and hasn't played a match that went more than the required three sets since Oct. 17 when it beat Stevenson 3-1. The Blue Jays are 32-0 this season and have swept 26 of their opponents.
This marks Johns Hopkins' first trip to the Elite Eight in school history, but its second trip to the region title match in the last three seasons. This is the third trip to the Elite Eight for Saint Benedict, but the first for the program since 2008. The team also made it as far as the national semifinals in 1990. Both CSB and the Blue Jays had three players earn all-region tournament honors, including the region MVP this past weekend. Johns Hopkins' Simone Bliss won Regional MVP accolades and Natalie Aston and Eleni Panagopoulos earned all-tournament honors, and in the St. Paul Regional
Hunter Weiss was named MVP while
Katie Koch and
Madison Weiss earned an all-tournament team nod.
Johns Hopkins' undefeated record leads the championship field, but all eight teams bring an impressive resume to the tournament's final site. Top-seeded Emory is 32-2, and Calvin also has only two losses with a 27-2 mark. Carthage is 30-3, Trinity is 36-4, Clarkson is 28-5 and Bowdoin is 21-7. Trinity handed Saint Benedict one of its five losses on the season when CSB was at the Tigers' home tournament in late August.
