Kansas City, Mo. - On Monday November 13 the NAIA announced the 48-team field for the 2023 NAIA National Tournament, with the Marian volleyball team announced as a qualifier for the seventh consecutive year. Marian earned an at-large bid to the tournament, and for the first time since 2017 will go on the road as they travel to St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Florida.

The 48-team event gets underway on Saturday November 18 at 24 campus sites across the country.

FLORIDA BOUND
The Knights will go on the road for the NAIA Opening Round for the first time since 2017, as the Knights will fly to Miami Gardens to take on St. Thomas. In 2017 Marian flew to Xavier University in Louisiana, where the Knights won a thrilling 3-2 match in their first-ever Opening Round game to earn their first trip to Sioux City.

INSIDE THE MATCH
Marian enters the NAIA Opening Round with a record of 20-10, earning one of the 14 at-large berths into the NAIA Tournament field. Marian finished third in the Crossroads League, and reached the CL Tournament Semifinals this season. Marian is led by defensive star Emma Lyons who averages 5.07 digs per set, Mikayla Christiansen and Khori Dryden who each average 2.45 or better kills per set, and setter Logan Smith, who has a team-best 5.33 assists per set. Marian is in the tournament field for the seventh time, and has a record of 18-9 overall.

St. Thomas earned an automatic bid to the tournament field with their 25-2 record, as they were the champions of the Sun Conference Tournament. St. Thomas is in their sixth NAIA Tournament, and carry an overall NAIA postseason record of 2-15. The Bobcats offense is led by Amanda Allende, who has a kills per set clip of 3.43, while teammate Alexandra Bruno averages 3.07 kills per set. The Bobcats employ a 5-1 rotation in their lineup with setter Payton Bertke leading the team with 825 assists, and defensively Bianca Grassi has a team-best 457 digs. 

This will be the first meeting in program history between the Knights and Bobcats, as Marian will play a new opponent for the fourth time in the NAIA Opening Round.

WHAT'S AT STAKE

Marian will be looking to make their seventh consecutive appearance at the NAIA final site in Sioux City, Iowa, which will extend their program record. Marian has not missed the final site since first qualifying for the NAIA Opening Round in 2017. Marian is 5-0 all-time in the NAIA Opening Round and 1-0 on the road. Last year the Knights hosted and defeated Park-Gilbert in four sets to advance to Iowa.

FOLLOW ALONG
Fans not making the trip to Florida can watch on The Sun Digital Network, linked above. Live stats will be available through St. Thomas' athletics website. Updates of the match will be posted to the MUKnights X and Instagram pages throughout the match.

Saturday's match in the NAIA Opening Round is set for 4 p.m. in Miami Gardens. For more information on the tournament field view the above link to go to the NAIA website. 

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