KANSAS CITY, Mo - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has announced the qualifying teams and opening round matchups for the 2024 NAIA Women's Volleyball Championship presented by Marriott South Sioux City Riverfront and Explore Siouxland. For the eighth consecutive season, the Marian volleyball team will be in the NAIA Tournament, as they will host the NAIA Opening Round for the first time since 2022 this coming Saturday.

The 48-team event will begin with 24 championship opening round matches at campus locations on Saturday, November 23. Marian will be hosting Columbia International at 7:00 p.m. this Saturday in the NAIA Opening Round in what will be the first-ever meeting between the two.

After opening rounds, the action at the final site will take place inside the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, and will start with three days of pool play from December 4-6. At the conclusion of pool play, the top team in each three-team pool will advance to the elimination bracket, starting with the quarterfinals, on Saturday, December 7. The semifinals will be played on Monday, December 9 and the national champion will be crowned Tuesday, December 10.

This year's championship field includes 34 automatic qualifiers and 14 at-large selections. Automatic berths were given to teams that either won their respective conference tournament title, the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, regular-season championship, or finished runner-up at the conference tournament as determined by each conference qualification plan. The at-large bids were determined by the NAIA Women's Volleyball Selection Committee. The selection committee consists of coaches and administrators from around the country.

Marian University earned an automatic bid to the championship field, as the 22nd ranked Knights were the runner-up in the Crossroads League Tournament. The Knights have qualified for the NAIA National Tournament for the eighth time in program history, and will host the opening round game for the fifth time, having done so last in 2022. Marian is 23-8 on the season, and finished third in the regular season in the Crossroads League. Marian earned multiple All-Crossroads League honors this season, which will be announced by the league on Tuesday afternoon. 

The Knights are one of five former NAIA Champions in the 2024 field.

Columbia International will be the Knights' opponent on Saturday night, who earned an automatic bid by winning both the Appalachian Athletic Conference Regular Season and Tournament Championships. The Rams hold a record of 32-2 overall this season, and are in their fourth NAIA National Tournament field in their program history. The Rams earned five AAC honors this season, and are led by head coach Katie Weiss, who was formerly the head coach at Bethel University through the conclusion of the 2022 season. 

Tickets will go on sale for the match by the end of day on Tuesday. First serve against the Rams is set for 7:00 p.m. in the PE Center on November 23. The match will be streamed on the ISC Sports Network, and there will be a $9.99 pay-per-view charge for the game. 

Live updates will be posted to the Marian University Athletics social media channels throughout the match. Follow along on X and Instragram with by following @MUKnights. 

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