Coastal Carolina women’s volleyball team learns opponent and site in NCAA Tournament

The Coastal Carolina volleyball team will face a familiar foe in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament.

The Chanticleers (20-7) will take on ninth-seeded Creighton (25-6) at 8 p.m. (ET) Friday in Omaha, Neb. The teams met in the first round of the NCAA Tournament two years ago and Creighton won that match in four sets.

Creighton will serve as the host of a four-team first round site. Missouri State (28-5) and Michigan State (21-8) will play before CCU at 5 p.m. Friday. Tournament pairings were announced Sunday night during the NCAA Volleyball Selection Show televised on ESPNU.

The Chanticleers, who won the The Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament titles, earned their fourth consecutive NCAA postseason berth – and seventh overall in program history – by defeating second-seeded Texas State in last Sunday’s Sun Belt championship match.

Coastal recorded its first NCAA Tournament victory last season when it defeated James Madison in five sets in the first round.

Creighton is making its sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance following its fourth consecutive Big East championship, earning the conference title with a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Marquette in the championship match.

Creighton’s No. 9 seed marks the second time in program history that the Bluejays have been seeded. The first was in 2015, when they faced Coastal as the No. 16 seed.

The Chants feature two-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Leah Hardeman, a senior hitter, and Second Team All-Sun Belt performer Sydney Alvis, a junior defensive specialist. Additionally, CCU coach Jozsef Forman was named the Sun Belt Coach of the Year.

This story was originally published November 26, 2017 at 11:15 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina women’s volleyball team learns opponent and site in NCAA Tournament."