WAVERLY, Iowa—The Wartburg volleyball team (30-5 overall) will face Saint Benedict (18-9) in the first round of the NCAA tournament in UW-Whitewater's regional portion of the bracket Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

Wartburg received the Iowa Conference's automatic bid by winning the conference tournament on Saturday.

This marks the Knights' ninth appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first trip since the 2013 season. The Orange and Black are 5-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.



Tickets (can be purchased at door):
Adult - $6
Senior Citizen/Youth - $4
Student - $4

Parking:
Spectator Parking - Lots 7, 8, 9, 11 and 24

Directions to Campus
Campus Maps and Parking
Whitewater Area Food and Lodging

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The Series
The Blazers lead the all-time series at 13-4 and won the meeting earlier this season 3-1 on Sept. 19 at the Knights Classic.

Wartburg
Senior Krystal Graves (Cedar Falls) has a team-best 350 kills and 2.82 kills/set. Junior Claire Willenbring (Dyersville) follows with 308 kills, senior Kaity Brouwer (Dike) with 224, senior Libby Creery (West Union) has 173, freshman Lizzy Blough (Dike) has 131 and sophomore Aryn Jones (Marion) has 108 kills.

Senior Emma Harmeyer (West Des Moines) and sophomore Maria Brown (Peosta) have 738 and 373 set assists, respectively as they co-run the Knights' offense.  

Senior Jamie Farley (Cedar Falls) leads the team at the service line with 33 aces.

National Stat Rankings
Wartburg ranks in the top 100 of 13 statistical categories, which the NCAA released Tuesday

The Knights rank 10^th in team digs (2,390), 17^th in team total attacks (4,778), 18^th in team kills (1,627), 19^th in team assists (1,497), 19^th in match win-loss percentage (.857), 27^th in digs per set (18.53) and 28^th in team total blocks (242.5). The Orange and Black also rank 55^th in hitting percentage (.218), 56^th in kills per set (12.61), 59^th in team attacks per set (37.04), 63^rd in blocks per set (1.88), 66^th in assists per set (11.60) and 98^th in opposing hitting percentage (.135).

Individually, two Knights rank in the top 100 of four statistical categories.

Farley ranks 25^th in total digs (639) and 46^th in digs per set (5.24) and Brouwer ranks 52^nd in total blocks (105) and 84^th in hitting percentage (.311).

Saint Benedict
The Blazers fell 3-1 to Bethel in the MIAC conference tournament semifinals.

Laura Schmitt leads her team with 385 kills and 3.50 kills/set. Briana Schmiesing has 231 kills, Lauren Mathews follows with 217, Meghan Koop has 198, Mary Franz has 164 and Megan Pekarek has 138.

Pekarek has 1,059 set assists running the team's offense and Mathews leads the team on the service line with 36 aces as Schmitt follows with 35.

Weekend Schedule: NCAA Volleyball Regional at UW-Whitewater
Thursday, Nov. 12
Match 1: Hope vs. Bethel, 12:30 p.m.
Match 2: Gustavus vs. UW-Eau Claire, 3 p.m.
Match 3: Wartburg vs. Saint Benedict, 5:30 p.m.
Match 4: UW-Whitewater vs. Northwestern-St. Paul, 8 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 13
Match 5: Match 1 winner vs. Match 2 winner, 4:30 p.m.
Match 6: Match 3 winner vs. Match 4 winner, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 14
Match 5 winner vs. Match 6 winner, 7 p.m.