The Hillsdale College volleyball team is returning to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade -- and a familiar foe lies in wait.
The Chargers were reseeded fourth out of the eight regional champions arriving in Tampa, Florida on Wednesday to compete for a NCAA DII national championship, and will begin their journey with a quarterfinal match against fifth-seeded Gannon, the Atlantic Region champion, at 5 p.m. on Thursday at the Bob Martinez Athletic Center on the University of Tampa campus.
Hillsdale hasn't played Gannon in the fall 2021 season but have faced the Golden Knights three times this calendar year, all in the spring 2021 season. Gannon beat the Chargers in a 3-1 match at Hillsdale on Feb. 27 in the Chargers' only loss of the Spring 2021 regular season.
The two teams met again at the AVCA DII National Tournament in Dallas, Texas, in April, an event being played in lieu of the cancelled NCAA Tournament that year, and Hillsdale got payback in a thrilling five-set victory in pool play on Apr. 15. The two teams met in a rubber match in the Silver Bracket final of the AVCA event on Saturday, April 17 and the Chargers pulled off a dramatic comeback, reverse-sweeping the Knights by winning the final three sets of another five-set classic to take the title and a 2-1 edge in the season series.
Every player who appeared for the Chargers in those three contests return, while Gannon brings back almost everyone from those three matches as well, meaning Thursday's quarterfinal has the potential to be another classic.
The winner will face the victor between eight-seeded Augusta and top-seeded and NCAA Elite Eight host Tampa in a Final Four match on Friday at 7:30 p.m. for a spot in the National Championship match on Saturday.
The full bracket is below. You can find out more about the NCAA DII Elite Eight at the tournament webpage, including where to find hotel accomodations and where to buy tickets. A full preview of the event will be posted on hillsdalechargers.com later this week.
NCAA DII National Championship Bracket:
Quarterfinal #1: #3 Washburn (29-5) vs #6 West Texas A&M (26-4) | 12 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9 | Bob Martinez Athletics Center | Tampa, FL
Quarterfinal #2: #2 Western Washington (24-4) vs #7 Daemen (25-7) | 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9 | Bob Martinez Athletics Center | Tampa, FL
Quarterfinal #3: #4 Hillsdale (30-4) vs #5 Gannon (31-6) | 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9 | Bob Martinez Athletics Center | Tampa, FL
Quarterfinal #4: #1 Tampa (31-2) vs #8 Augusta (25-8) | 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9 | Bob Martinez Athletics Center | Tampa, FL
Semifinal #1: QF1 winner vs QF2 winner | 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10 | Bob Martinez Athletics Center | Tampa, FL
Semifinal #2: QF3 winner vs QF4 winner | 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10 | Bob Martinez Athletics Center | Tampa, FL
Final: SF1 winner vs SF2 winner | 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11 | | Bob Martinez Athletics Center | Tampa, FL
Photo courtesy of Ferris St. Athletics