CSM Volleyball Qualifies for National Championships

KANSAS CITY, Mo. –  The Flames are in!

College of Saint Mary volleyball qualified for the 2022 NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championships. The Flames were selected as an at-large bid and will play host to IU Kokomo (Ind.) Saturday at CSM. The time is still to be determined.

"We are excited to extend our season in hopes of getting to Sioux City again," CSM's Makenna Freeman (SR/Omaha, Neb.) said.

The 48-team event will get underway with 24 National Championship Opening Round matches at campus locations on Saturday.

"We are excited to qualify for our third national tournament in four years," CSM Coach Rick Pruett said. "The ladies have worked hard to get us to this point. We'll have a tough opponent in IU Kokomo, but we'll be ready to play."

After opening rounds, the action at the final site inside the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, starts with three days of pool play from Nov. 30 – Dec. 2. The top team in each three-team pool will advance to the elimination bracket on Saturday, Dec. 3, the semifinals will be played on Monday, Dec. 5, and the national champion will be crowned Tuesday, Dec. 6, with the first serve set for 7 p.m. CST on ESPN3.

This year's field includes 36 automatic qualifiers and 12 at-large selections. The automatic berths are determined by regular-season champions or runner-ups, conference tournament title winners or runner-ups, or by conference selection. A selection committee determined the remaining at-large bids made up of administrators and coaches from around the country. The final site pools will be determined on Sunday, Nov. 20, and released by 5 p.m. CST.

The NAIA Network – the association's official video-streaming home – will broadcast all matches, excluding the championship match, live at the 2022 NAIA Volleyball National Championship final site in Sioux City, Iowa. The video platform, powered by Presto allows users access to live video, statistics and social interaction on a number of devices, including mobile. Single-day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while a pool play pass is $24.95 (Nov. 30 – Dec. 2), and a championship package is available at $39.95. The championship match includes all pool play, quarterfinal and semifinal matches.

Qualifier Highlights

The Great Plains Athletic Conference brings in the highest number of qualifiers to the field with seven qualifying teams: College of Saint Mary (Neb.), Concordia (Neb.), Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.), Hastings (Neb.), Jamestown (N.D.), Midland (Neb.) and Northwestern (Iowa). 

There are four teams in the 2022 championship field that are qualifying for the first time: William Jessup (Calif.), Philander Smith (Ark.), Cumberland (Tenn.) and John Brown (Ark.).

There are 16 teams in the 2022 field that are making their 10th or more appearance in the national championship: Bellevue (Neb.), College of Saint Mary (Neb.), Columbia (Mo.), Hastings (Neb.), Indiana Wesleyan, IU Kokomo (Ind.), Jamestown (N.D.), Missouri Baptist, Northwestern (Iowa), Ottawa (Kan.), Park (Mo.), Southern Oregon, Texas Wesleyan, Viterbo (Wis.), Westmont (Calif.) and Xavier (La.).

Columbia (Mo.) is the only team with more than 20 appearances in the 2022 championship field with 28. The Cougars also hold the highest number of all-time appearances in tournament history.

The defending two-time national champion, Missouri Baptist, returns to the championship field as the American Midwest Conference tournament champion.

There are five teams in the 2022 field that have previously won a title: Columbia (Mo.), Hastings (Neb.), Marian (Ind.), Missouri Baptist and Park (Mo.)

Columbia (Mo.), Missouri Baptist and Park (Mo.) are the only teams in the tournament field to have won more than one title. Columbia (Mo.) has four titles (1998, 1999, 2001, 2015), Missouri Baptist has two (2020, 2021), and Park (Mo.) has two titles (2014-2018).

Thirty-one teams that qualified for the 2022 national championship also competed in the 2021 championship.

SAGU (Texas) enters the 2022 championship field as the only team with an undefeated 32-0 record.

St. Thomas (Fla.) returns to the championship field after nearly 20 years since their last appearance in 2003.