2017 National Invitational Volleyball Championship

The 2017 National Invitational Volleyball Championship began on Tuesday, November 28, 2017 and concluded on Tuesday, December 12. The first 15 automatic qualifying teams were announced on Sunday, November 21, and the full field was announced after the NCAA Tournament selection show on the night of Sunday, November 26. All games were played at on-campus sites, and the finals were streamed live on ESPN3.[1]

2017 National Invitational Volleyball Championship

Dates	November 28–December 12, 2017
Teams	32
Champions	Mississippi "Ole Miss" Rebels
Runners-up	Texas Tech Red Raiders
Matches played	31
Best player	Emily Stroup, Ole Miss
← 1995 2018 →

Originally announced as featuring 64 teams, the inaugural tournament was limited to 32 teams.[2]

The University of Mississippi's "Ole Miss" Rebels hosted one of the eight regional tournaments, where they defeated Stephen F. Austin 3–0 and Arkansas State 3–1. Remaining a host team through the rest of the tournament, Ole Miss downed Georgia 3–0 in the quarterfinals, West Virginia 3–0 in the semifinals, and Texas Tech 3–0 in the championship match.[3]

Qualifying Teams

Automatic qualifications (AQ) were granted to the best team from each of the 32 conferences that was not invited to the 2017 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament. An automatic qualifier from any conference that declined a bid vacated the qualifier for that conference.[4] Invitations were declined by nine teams and/or their conferences. Three conferences were given at-large bids but no AQs, based on criteria set by Triple Crown Sports. Vacancies were filled by at-large bids offered to the teams with the highest RPI, regardless of conference or geographic location. Teams were assigned to four-team geographic regionals that met at on-campus sites.[5]

Automatic qualifiers

RPI[6]	School	Conference	Record		RPI	School	Conference	Record
47	North Texas	C-USA	28–3		57	Georgia	SEC	19–10
65	Charleston * Towson	Colonial	27–5 26–5		69	Texas State	Sun Belt	24–9
72	West Virginia	Big 12	16–12		76	Temple	American	17–9
78	Sacramento State	Big Sky	26–9		79	UC Irvine	Big West	21–7
87	Wyoming	Mountain West	17–13		88	Illinois State	MVC	20–11
90	SIU Edwardsville	Ohio Valley	23–6		98	Pacific	West Coast	16–13
100	Syracuse	ACC	19–12		101	Stephen F. Austin	Southland	26–7
107	Oral Roberts	Summit	15–13		123	Bowling Green	MAC	17–11
157	Campbell	Big South	20–11		160	Albany	America East	11–14
220	Maryland Eastern Shore	MEAC	27–8		312	Alabama A&M	SWAC	14–19
—	No AQ, 2 At-Large bids	Horizon			—	No AQ, 1 At-Large bid	Patriot
—	No AQ, 1 At-Large bid	Patriot			—	Conference and/or team declined invitation	ASUN	—
—	Conference and/or team declined invitation	A10	—				Big East
		Big Ten					Ivy
		MAAC					NEC
		Pac-12					WAC

• * = College of Charleston, one of the first 15 announced AQs received an at-large invitation to the NCAA tournament and was replaced by Towson.

At-large bids

RPI	School	Conference	Record		RPI	School	Conference	Record
73	Rice	C-USA	21–8		77	SMU	American	20–9
80	TCU	Big 12	11–16		82	Ole Miss	SEC	17–14
86	UCF	American	17–13		89	Boise State	Mountain West	17–13
96	Arkansas State	Sun Belt	20–11		104	Green Bay	Horizon	15–15
108	Colgate	Patriot	18–10		110	IUPUI	Horizon	16–14
118	Texas Tech	Big 12	15–13		127	UNC Greensboro	SoCon	19-11

Brackets

Source= [5][7]

All games were played at campus sites. The sixteen first and eight second round regional tournament games were played November 28–December 1, 2017. Four quarterfinal games were played December 3–6. The two semifinal games were played December 7–9. The final game was played at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, December 12 and live-streamed on ESPN3.

Regions († = host)
Stockton, CA[8] November 28–29	Athens, GA[9] November 28–29	Morgantown, WV[10] November 28–29	Oxford, MS[11] November 29–30
Pacific Tigers (16–13) †	Georgia Lady Bulldogs (19–10) †	West Virginia Mountaineers (16–12) †	Ole Miss Rebels (17–14) †
Boise State Broncos (17–13)	Alabama A&M Lady Bulldogs (14–19)	Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks (27–8)	Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks (26–7)
Sacramento State Hornets (26–9)	UNC Greensboro Spartans (19–11)	Campbell Lady Camels (20–11)	Arkansas State Red Wolves (20–11)
UC Irvine Anteaters (21–7)	UCF Knights (17–13)	Temple Owls (17–9)	SIU Edwardsville Cougars (23–6)
Denton, TX[12] November 30–December 1	Green Bay, WI[13] November 30–December 1	San Marcos, TX[14] November 30–December 1	Hamilton, NY[15] November 30–December 1
North Texas Mean Green (28–3) †	Green Bay Phoenix (15–15) †	Texas State Bobcats (24–9) †	Colgate Raiders (18–10) †
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (15–13)	Bowling Green Falcons (17–11)	Rice Owls (21–8)	Towson Tigers (26–5)
Wyoming Cowgirls (17–13)	IUPUI Jaguars (16–14)	Texas Tech Red Raiders (15–13)	Albany Great Danes (11–14)
TCU Horned Frogs (11–16)	Illinois State Redbirds (20–11)	SMU Mustangs (20–9)	Syracuse Orange (19–12)

Quarterfinal Sites				Semifinal sites			Final site
Oxford, MS Sunday, December 3 1 PM CST	Morgantown, WV Monday, December 4 6 PM EST	Fort Worth, TX (2 games) Wednesday, December 6 4 PM & 7 PM CST		Fort Worth, TX Thursday, December 7 7 PM CST	Oxford, MS Saturday, December 9 4:30 PM CST		Oxford, MS Tuesday, December 12 7 PM EST

First Round November 28–30

Second Round November 29–December 1

Quarterfinals December 3–6

Semifinals December 8–10

Final December 12

H

North Texas

3

v

Oral Roberts

1

North Texas

2

Texas Christian

3

h

Wyoming

0

v

Texas Christian

3

Texas Christian

3

Green Bay

0

H

Green Bay

3

v

Bowling Green

2

Green Bay

3

Illinois State

1

h

Illinois State

3

v

IUPUI

0

Texas Christian

1

Texas Tech

3

H

Pacific

3

v

Boise State

0

Pacific

2

UC Irvine

3

h

UC Irvine

3

v

Sacramento State

0

UC Irvine

1

Texas Tech

3

H

Texas State

3

v

Rice

0

Texas State

0

Texas Tech

3

h

Southern Methodist

0

v

Texas Tech

3

Texas Tech

0

Ole Miss

3

H

Georgia

3

v

Alabama A&M

0

Georgia

3

Central Florida

0

h

Central Florida

3

v

UNC Greensboro

0

Georgia

0

Mississippi

3

H

Mississippi

3

v

Stephen F. Austin

0

Mississippi

3

Arkansas State

1

h

SIU Edwardsville

1

v

Arkansas State

3

Mississippi

3

West Virginia

0

H

West Virginia

3

v

Maryland Eastern Shore

0

West Virginia

3

Temple

0

h

Temple

3

v

Campbell

0

West Virginia

3

Syracuse

0

H

Colgate

2

v

Towson

3

Syracuse

3

Towson

0

h

Syracuse

3

v

Albany

1

• H = host; h = home team; v = visitor

All-tournament team

Source = [16]

Player	School	Class	Hometown (High school)
Emily Stroup (MVP)	Ole Miss	Sophomore	Fargo, ND (Fargo South)
Kate Gibson	Ole Miss	Senior	Sedalia, CO (Valor Christian)
Caroline Adams	Ole Miss	Junior	Lafayette, LA (St. Thomas More Catholic)
Missy Owens	Texas Tech	RS Junior	Yorba Linda, CA (Yorba Linda)
Kate Klepetka	Texas Tech	RS Senior	Allen, TX (Allen)
Mia Swanegan	West Virginia	Senior	Blue Springs, MO (Blue Springs South)
Anna Walsh	TCU	Junior	Grapevine, TX (Colleyville Heritage)

References

1. "64-team National Invitational Volleyball Championship set for 2017". VolleyballMag.com. December 15, 2016. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
2. "2017 NIVC to feature 32-team field". Triple Crown Sports. November 16, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
3. "Ole Miss volleyball caps historic season with NIVC title". The Oxford Eagle. December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
4. "Women's NIVC Event Information". Triple Crown Sports. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
5. "Women's NIVC Tournament Field". Triple Crown Sports. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
6. "VB Nitty Gritty Thru Nov 25 2017" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
7. "NIVC Bracket". Triple Crown Sports. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
8. "Tigers to Serve as Host for NIVC Tournament". Pacific Athletics. November 26, 2017. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
9. "VOLLEYBALL TO HOST FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS OF NIVC". University of Georgia Athletics. November 26, 2017. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
10. "WVU Earns Postseason Berth". West Virginia University Athletics. November 26, 2017. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
11. "VOLLEYBALL TO HOST NIVC FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS". CBS Interactive. November 26, 2017. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
12. "North Texas Accepts Automatic Bid To NIVC". CBS Interactive. November 26, 2017. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
13. "VOLLEYBALL TO HOST FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS OF 2017 POSTSEASON NIVC". Green Bay Athletics. November 26, 2017. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
14. "Texas State selected as host site for NIVC First/Second Rounds". Texas State University. November 26, 2017. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
15. "Volleyball Earns NIVC Bid, Will Host First and Second Rounds". COLGATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS. November 26, 2017. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
16. "Ole Miss claims NIVC Title". Triple Crown Sports. December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 14, 2017.

External links

• NIVC website