WAVERLY, Iowa-- The Wartburg volleyball team (24-5 overall) will face No. 22 St. Thomas (25-6) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday at 12:30 p.m.

The regional will be hosted by Northwestern-St. Paul. The other teams in the regional are: Cornell, UW-LaCrosse, Saint Benedict, Gustavus Adolphus, Aurora and host-Northwestern.

Click here for the championships website, provided by Northwestern (parking info inluded).

Click here for the complete NCAA bracket.

The Knights won the Iowa Conference tournament championship to advance to the NCAA Tournament, and the Tommies received the at-large bid as they fell in five sets to Saint Benedict in the MIAC tournament championship.

This marks the third-straight appearance, fifth in the last six years, and 11th overall in the NCAA Tournament for the Orange and Black.

St. Thomas received the No. 22 ranking in the AVCA Top 25 poll, released Nov. 7.

Tournament Schedule
Thursday, Nov. 9
Wartburg 3, St. Thomas, 2
Gustavus 3, Aurora, 1
UW-LaCrosse 3, Saint Benedict, 1
Northwestern 3, Cornell 0

Friday, Nov. 10
Wartburg vs. Gustavus, 4:30 p.m.
UW-LaCrosse vs. Northwestern, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 11
Regional Final, 7 p.m.

Follow the Knights
Click here for the live video, provided by Northwestern.
Click here for the live stats.

Tickets

Prices Single-Session Tickets		All-Session Tickets
Adult	$8	Adult	$16
Senior Citizen	$5	Senior Citizen	$10
Student	$5	Student	$10

Child (< 12=""> Children under 2

$3 free

Child (< 12=""> Children under 2

$3 free

The Series
St. Thomas owns the all-time series lead at 16-4. The programs have not met since 2014.

Wartburg
Senior Aryn Jones (Marion) has a team-best 406 kills, 3.83 kills/set, .351 hitting percentage and is second with 33 service aces. Junior Lizzy Blough (Dike) joins her in triple digits with 268 kills and a team-high 40 aces. Senior Maddie Miller (Johnston), freshman Kylie Bildstein (Dyersville), and junior Mallary Erbes (Urbandale) round out the leading hitters with 203 and 157, and 124 kills, respectively.

Senior Maria Brown (Peosta) leads the setters with 553 assists and Erbes follows with 517 in the 6-2 system.

Freshman Katie Foster (Charles City) has 574 digs.

St. Thomas
Whitney Lloyd is the team's leading hitter with 272 kills and 3.09 kills/set. Madie Kroehler leads the team from the service line with 40 aces and 444 digs.

National Stat Rankings
Wartburg ranks in the top 100 of 11 statistical categories, which the NCAA released Monday.
 
The Knights rank 26^th in match won-loss percentage (.828), 29^th in blocks per set (2.02), 34^th in team total blocks (216), 37^th in hitting percentage (.224), 49^th in digs per set (18.01), 52^nd in kills per set (12.75), 61^st in opponent hitting percentage (.123), 71^st in team digs (1,927), 77^th in team kills (1,364), 79^th in assists per set (11.53), and 95^th in team assists (1,234).

Individually, two Knights rank in the top 100 of eight statistical categories: Jones ranks 14^th in points per set (4.81), 21^st in hitting percentage (.351), 37^th in kills per set (3.83), 46^th in total kills (406), 60^th in total blocks (97), and 75^th in blocks per set (.92), and Foster ranks 40^th in total digs (574) and 49^th in digs per set (5.36).