The Butler Grizzlies volleyball team will go to their first ever national tournament as the No. 2 seed, after a season that saw them finish 35-2 and 16-0 in conference play, winning the conference and the region titles for the very first time.
The Grizzlies will open the tournament on Thursday, November 18th playing against the No. 15 seed, Wallace State at 11 AM in Hutchinson, KS inside the Sports Arena. Wallace comes into the tournament with a 40-6 record on the year. The game will be played on court two at Hutchinson Sports Arena. With a win, the Grizzlies would move to the winner's bracket to play the winner of the game between 7th seeded Snow (UT) and 10th seeded Northeastern (CO). Also on the Grizzlies side of the bracket are third seeded Miami Dade, who will play 14th seeded Jefferson, and 6th seeded New Mexico Military Institute, who face off against 11th seeded Tyler.
Four of the Grizzlies' regular season opponents punched their tickets to Hutchinson with Iowa Western, Blinn, Jefferson and MSU-West Plains. The Grizzlies defeated Iowa Western, the eighth seed, 3-2 when the two teams faced off in September, also in Hutch. Butler could potentially see a rematch in the title game as Blinn College has been awarded the top seed in the tournament. The Grizzlies would have the chance to avenge one of their two losses on the year, as Blinn beat the Grizzlies in an early season encounter in August. Butler handled both MSU-West Plains and Jefferson College in mid-season in 3-0 victories.
The tournament starts on Thursday, November 18th, and will conclude on Saturday, the 20th. The losers of the quarterfinal matches will be put in the consolation bracket to decide the third-place finisher. Should the Grizzlies lose their opening round matchup, they would play in the consolation bracket on Friday at 10 AM against the loser of the Snow-Northeastern matchup.
