REGIONAL WEBSITE

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein volleyball team will launch yet another NCAA Division III Championships this coming Thursday afternoon in Michigan, traveling to take part in an eight-team regional hosted by Calvin University at Van Noord Arena in Grand Rapids.

The No. 24-ranked Cardinals received an at-large bid during the NCAA Selection Show Monday afternoon, shortly after finishing runner-up in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament to nationally-ranked Ohio Northern. They will open the entire regional with a first-round matchup against Westminster College (Pa.) on Thursday at 12:30 p.m.

Otterbein (23-5) is making its seventh NCAA appearance since 2010 and third in the last four years... but would have been four-straight seasons had the most recent national event not been canceled due to CoVID. The Cards last appeared in the Big Dance during 2019, beating UW-Whitewater before falling in the Round of 32 to host and No. 2-ranked Chicago.

The Cardinals have gone 118-28 the past five seasons under head coach Monica Wright, including a school-record 19-match winning streak this fall. Otterbein won a staggering 48 sets in a row during that span, the seventh-longest streak in NCAA Division III history.

OAC Player of the Year Carlie Craycraft runs the show, as the junior setter ranks second in the country for assists per set (11.25) while directing a Top-10 offense collectively. She became the league's first setter in 15 years to claim POY honors outright… also ranking among the conference leaders in serving.

The floor general has many dangerous weapons at her disposal, headlined by fellow first team All-OAC performer Morgan Hartman on the outside. The hard-swinging sophomore led the league with 3.82 kills per set while amassing 200 digs as well.

Amber Greeley (.341 hitting percentage) on the right side and veteran Julia Vermilion (over 700 kills and 700 digs in her career) repeated as All-OAC selections. Up the middle, senior Emma Linehan (19th nationally with a .376 percentage) earned league-wide recognition while sophomore Madison McCoy ranked top five in the conference for blocking.

Junior libero Bridget Oder averages over five digs per set on the back line, freshman Amanda Troyer has come into her own, and many others contribute around the court defensively. Otterbein opponents hit .145 this season.

Westminster, an automatic qualifier to the Big Dance, currently stands 28-4 overall after winning its third-straight Presidents Athletic Conference title. The Titans operate behind 29th-year head coach Tammy Swearingen, recently named PAC Coach of the Year for a seventh time.

Westminster returns to the national scene for a fifth time in program history, with other appearances coming in 2019, 2008, 2007 and the 1997 NAIA Tournament. Six total players landed All-PAC honors, spearheaded by senior middle hitter Becky Adelman as Player of the Year. She was top four across the league in points, kills, blocks and hitting percentage.

Setter Samantha Kelly and outside hitter Maya Steward joined Adelman on the first team. Steward, a 4x All-PAC selection, averaged 3.26 kills/set while Kelly averages 9.4 helpers and 0.52 service aces per frame.

Malia Duffy averages 4.95 digs for Westminster, going a perfect 18-0 against the PAC this fall. The Titans losses were to Baldwin Wallace (3-2), John Carroll (3-1), Mount Union (3-0) and Susquehanna (3-1).

No. 5-ranked Calvin will serve as host all three days, with semifinals scheduled for Friday evening followed by a regional final come Saturday at 7 p.m.

Fans can follow all of the action at the REGIONAL PAGE, which includes links for live stats, live video and press conferences. See below for entire three-day schedule.


Thursday, Nov. 11
Match 1: Otterbein (Ohio) vs Westminster (Pa.), 12:30 p.m.
Match 2: UW-Whitewater (Wis.) vs Ithaca (N.Y.), 3 p.m.
Match 3: Wittenberg (Ohio) vs St. John Fisher (N.Y.), 5:30 p.m.
Match 4: Calvin (Mich.) vs Penn St.-Behrend (Pa.), 8 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 12
Match 5: Otterbein/Westminster vs. UW-Whitewater/Ithaca, 5:30 p.m.
Match 6: Calvin/Penn St.-Behrend vs. Wittenberg/St. John Fisher, 8 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 13
Match 7: Regional Final, 7 p.m.