Men's Volleyball Earns NECVA Tournament Berth
MEN'S VOLLEYBALL EARNS NECVA
TOURNAMENT BERTH
Elms College earns 14th-seed and will face No. 3
Ramapo on Friday afternoon
Click here for complete NECVA Tournament information
JERSEY CITY, NJ, March 30, 2009 - The North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) announced its bracket for the upcoming NECVA Championship to be hosted on the campus of MIT, and for the second consecutive season, Elms College has been selected to compete in the 16-team tournament.
The Blazers, currently 18-12 heading into Tuesday night's regular season finale at home against Johnson & Wales, earned the 14th-seed for the second consecutive season.
Elms College will face No. 3 Ramapo (23-6) on Friday, April 3 at DuPont Gymnasium on the campus of MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Match time is 4:00 p.m.
Friday's match will mark the first-ever meeting between the Blazers and Road Runners.
Elms College, which was awarded one of six available at-large bids, will make their second-ever appearance in the tournament. Last season, the Blazers fell 3-1 (30-28, 30-21, 28-30, 33-31) to No. 3 Nazareth in the opening round.
Ramapo (23-6), ranked seventh nationally in last week's Bison/AVCA Division III Top 15 Coaches Poll, punched its ticket into the 16-team field via an automatic qualifier after winning the NECVA Metro Division regular season title with a perfect 9-0 mark.
The winner of Friday's first round match then advances to face the winner of the No. 6 Vassar (17-7)/No. 11 MIT (25-11) match in the quarterfinals on Saturday, April 4 at 1:00 p.m.
Of its possible second round opponents, Elms College is 0-1 all-time versus Vassar and 1-12 against MIT.
On February 21, the Blazers dropped a five-set, heartbreaker 3-2 (31-29, 24-30, 28-30, 30-27, 13-15) at Vassar, last year's Division III national runner-up which is currently ranked eighth in the latest Bison/AVCA Top 15 Coaches Poll.
Elms College earned the program's first-ever win over MIT with a convincing 3-0 (30-21, 30-28, 35-33) win over the Engineers back on February 7.
MIT, which received an at-large bid as the host school, posted a victories of 3-0 (30-23,30-28,30-28) and 3-1 (30-32,30-24,30-28,30-16) over the Blazers in the other two meetings between the two teams this season.