SANTA CLARITA, Ca. – The 2012 Master’s College Women’s Volleyball team (26-5) has been rewarded for its best season in program history with an At-Large Bid to the NAIA National Championships in Sioux City, Iowa, November 27 – December 1.  This is the Mustangs first appearance in the NAIA Championships.

On the strength of finishing the regular season as the No. 6 volleyball squad in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, the Mustangs are positioned to earn an opening round bye in the National Tournament.  The 36-team National Championship tournament will get underway with the Opening Round at campus locations on Nov. 17.

The Mustangs will be keeping an eye on this weekend’s opening round matches, but will be most focused on staying sharp for their first pool play match in Sioux City on Tuesday, Nov. 27.
A
total of five GSAC institutions qualified for the National Championships – joining No. 6 Master’s is No. 1 Concordia, No. 4 Biola, No. 11 Westmont, and No. 22 Vanguard.

The Master’s College joins four other institutions from across the country who are also making their first-ever appearance in the National Championships.

Of the five newcomers to the National Championship (Bryan (Tenn.), Davenport (Mich.), Ottawa (Kan.) and Viterbo (Wis.)), The Lady Mustangs were the only team to recieve a first round bye.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Concordia (Calif.) ends the season as the No. 1 ranked team in the final regular season edition of the Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Coaches’ Top 25 poll, the national office announced on Sunday. The Eagles received 21-of-23 first-place votes and earned 652 points for the top spot. This is the third-straight week for the Eagles to sit atop the poll.

The 2012 Volleyball National Championship qualifiers will be announced today at 4 CST. The opening round pairings for the Volleyball National Championship will be released at Noon CST on Monday, Nov. 12 on NAIA.org.

Concordia won the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) regular season championship by defeating No. 4 Biola (Calif.), 3-2, (25-21, 25-10, 23-25, 22-25, 15-8) on Nov. 10, with the win, the Eagles extended its NAIA-best winning streak to 30 matches.

Texas at Brownsville collected the last two first-place votes and tallied 633 points for the No. 2 ranking. The Scorpions claimed the Red River Athletic Conference tournament by defeating Texas Wesleyan, 3-0, (25-15, 25-20, 25-19) and St. Thomas-Houston (Texas), 3-0, (25-12, 25-16, 25-18). American Midwest Conference (AMWC) Tournament champion, Columbia (Mo.) comes in at No. 3 notching 611 points. Remaining at No. 4 is Biola receiving 590 points, while No. 5 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) rounds out the top five with 561 points.

Three teams, No. 12 Indiana East, No. 16 Doane (Neb.) and No. 21 Viterbo (Wis.) all made the biggest jump this week, moving up two spots. They all won their conference tournaments this past weekend.

Rejoining the Top 25, after missing the last two weeks, is No. 24 Park (Mo.). Park defeated then-No. 13 Missouri Baptist in the AMWC semifinals, 3-0, (25-19, 25-12, 25-19) on Nov. 8. Two day later, the Pirates were defeated by No. 3 Columbia, 3-0, (25-21, 25-15, 25-22) in the championship.

Point Park (Pa.) (No. 24) fell out of the Top 25.

Sixteen conferences/independents/unaffiliated groups are represented throughout the Top 25, led by the GSAC with five ranked teams. Representing the GSAC is Concordia, Biola, No. 6 The Master’s (Calif.), No. 11 Westmont (Calif.) and No. 22 Vanguard (Calif.).

The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and Independents.