Three #BIGEASTvb Teams Earn NCAA Volleyball Tournament Bids
2019 NCAA Volleyball Bracket
NEW YORK - For the third time in seven years, the BIG EAST boasts three teams in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament field, which was announced on Sunday night. St. John's won the BIG EAST Championship on Saturday to earn the league's automatic berth. Along with St. John's, regular season champion Creighton and Tournament runner-up Marquette also earned at-large bids.
The BIG EAST had three teams in the NCAA tournament in 2014 and 2015.
Creighton, the BIG EAST regular-season champion, earned its eighth straight tournament berth and its ninth overall in the last 10 seasons. The Bluejays (24-5, 17-1 BIG EAST) are headed to Minneapolis, Minn. and will face Iowa State on Friday, Dec. 6 at 5:30 p.m. ET. The winner of the Creighton/Iowa State match-up will meet the winner of Friday's match between Minnesota (23-5) and Fairfield (24-5). Creighton earned the program's first at-large bid since 2013 after earning the automatic qualifier in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. CU is 10-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and boasts trips to the 2016 Elite Eight and 2015 Sweet 16.
Marquette returned to the NCAA tournament field for the ninth consecutive time. The Golden Eagles (27-5, 16-2), the BIG EAST Championship runner-up, are set to take on Dayton on Friday, Dec. 6 at 4:30 p.m in West Lafayette, Ind. The winner of the Marquette/Dayton match-up will meet the winner of Friday's match between Purdue (22-7) and Wright State (24-5). Marquette appeared in the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history in 2018 and has reached the round of 32 three times. The Golden Eagles are 6-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
St. John's, the 2019 BIG EAST Tournament Champion, earned the conference's automatic qualifier and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history and first time in 12 seasons. The Red Storm (22-11, 12-6) pulled off back-to-back upsets of No. 10 Creighton and No. 12 Marquette in the BIG EAST Championship to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. The Johnnies will travel to College Station, Texas to face No. 13 national seed Texas A&M on Thursday, Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m. The winner of Thursday's match-up will face the winner of Oklahoma (18-8) and Rice (26-3) in Friday's second round. The Red Storm are 3-2 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and appeared in the Sweet 16 in 2007.
First- and second-round matches will be played December 5-7 at 16 campus sites. Teams winning both matches will continue to regional play December 13-14. Regionals for the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship will be held at four non-predetermined campus sites, which will be announced on December 8. At each site, four teams will compete in single-elimination regional semifinal competition.
The regional winners will advance to the national semifinals and championship final hosted by Dusquene, SPORTSPittsburgh on December 19-21 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The national semifinal matches will broadcast on ESPN, and the championship match will broadcast on ESPN2.
All regional and championship site match times can be found on the attached championship bracket or online at
www.ncaa.com/volleyball.
Upcoming #BIGEASTvb Schedule
Thursday, Dec. 5
St. John's at No. 13 Texas A&M at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 6
Marquette vs. Dayton at 4: 30 p.m. (West Lafayette, Ind.)
Creighton vs. Iowa State at 5:30 p.m. (Minneapolis, Minn.)
All Times Eastern