BOONE, N.C. - App State Volleyball earned an automatic bid to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) on Selection Sunday. It will be the third time in program history that the Mountaineers will appear in the tournament and first appearance in the NIVC since 2018. App State's first appearance in the tournament was in 1991, two years after the tournament was established.
The Black and Gold will take on Northern Colorado (25-7, 14-2 Big Sky) on Friday, Dec. 6 at 3 p.m. in Statesboro, Ga. Southeast Missouri State (19-13, 15-3 OVC) will take on Georgia Southern (21-6, 10-4 SBC) at 6 p.m. on Friday and the winners of both matches will meet on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 4 p.m.
"We are so excited to be in postseason play," said head coach Sarah Rumely Noble. "We've earned the right to be playing in December and I couldn't be more proud of this team. I'm excited to keep competing together with this special group."
In the Mountaineers' last appearance in the NIVC Tournament, App State fell to Radford, 3-1, on Nov. 29, 2018 in Clemson, S.C.
App State enters the tournament 18-9 (11-3 SBC) on the season. The Mountaineers made their first appearance in the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals since 2018 as the East Division's No. 1 seed. The Black and Gold defeated No. 5 seeded Georgia State, 3-2, in the quarterfinal before falling short to the West Division's No. 2 seed and eventual SBC Tournament champion Texas State in three sets.
For the first time since 2018, the Mountaineers clinched their first Sun Belt East Division title after going 11-2 in the division. App State won seven consecutive matches in Sun Belt action from Oct. 24 to Nov. 14, and posted their first back-to-back victories over James Madison since the Dukes joined the league as well as the first pair of wins over Coastal Carolina since 2018.
Individually, freshman
Elise Marchal was named Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and earned All-SBC accolades alongside redshirt junior
Addison Heidemann, junior
Maya Winterhoff, and sophomore
Ava Leahy. Heidemann also notched a pair of Sun Belt Setter of the Week honors during the regular season, while senior
Lulu Ambrose surpassed 1,000 career kills. Junior
Kenady Roper is on the cusp of surpassing 1,000 career digs, with 980.
The NIVC was established in 1989, starting with 20 teams, which originally played in four five-team pools with each pool winner advancing to a single-elimination bracket. The tournament evolved to now include 29 teams in a single-elimination bracket, with all games played at sites of host schools. Automatic qualifiers must be a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.
NIVC Tournament Schedule
Round 1 & Super 16: Dec. 4-8
Great 8: Dec. 9-12
Fab 4: Dec. 12-14
NIVC Championship: Dec. 15-18
Full Field of Competition
App State
Arizona
Arkansas State
Binghamton
Bowling Green
DePaul
East Carolina
Georgia Southern
Idaho State
Jacksonville State
Lindenwood
Mercer
North Carolina A&T
Northern Colorado
Omaha
Pacific
Stephen F. Austin
Southeast Missouri (SEMO)
St. John's (NY)
Toledo
UConn
Utah Valley
UTRGV
Virginia
Washington State
Winthrop
Weber State
Wright State
Wyoming
Full Matchups & Locations
All times EST
First-round byes: Arizona, Virginia, Wright State
At Arizona
Friday, Dec. 6
Weber State vs. Pacific, 8 p.m. ET
Saturday, Dec. 7
TBA vs. Arizona, 8 p.m. ET
At Wyoming
Thursday, Dec. 5
Utah Valley vs. Washington State, 6 p.m. ET
Idaho State vs. Wyoming, 9 p.m. ET
Friday, Dec. 6
Winners, 8 p.m. ET
At Stephen F. Austin
Thursday, Dec. 5
UTRGV vs. Arkansas State, 4 p.m. ET
Jackson State vs. Stephen F. Austin, 7 p.m. ET
Friday, Dec. 6
Winners, 7 p.m. ET
At Georgia Southern
Friday, Dec. 6
Northern Colorado vs. App State, 3 p.m. ET
Southeastern Missouri State vs. Georgia Southern, 6 p.m. ET
Saturday, Dec. 7
Winners, 4 p.m. ET
At Bowling Green
Wednesday, Dec. 4
Binghamton vs. Bowling Green, 7 p.m. ET
Thursday, Dec. 5
Binghamton/Bowling Green vs. Wright State, 8 p.m. ET
At DePaul
Thursday, Dec. 5
Lindenwood vs. Omaha, 5 p.m. ET
Toledo vs. DePaul, 8 p.m. ET
Friday, Dec. 6
Winners, 8 p.m. ET
At Virginia
Saturday, Dec. 7
North Carolina A&T vs. St. John's, 6 p.m. ET
Sunday, Dec. 8
North Carolina A&T/St. John's vs. Virginia, 6 p.m. ET
At East Carolina
Thursday, Dec. 5
UConn vs. Mercer, 3 p.m. ET
Winthrop vs. East Carolina, 6 p.m. ET
Friday, Dec. 6
Winners, 6 p.m. ET
