West Texas A&M Volleyball
Courtesy West Texas A&M Athletics Communications
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa.---- No. 5 nationally ranked West Texas A&M will face off against No. 1 ranked University of Tampa in the NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship national semifinals on Friday, Dec. 8 at 6:30 p.m. CT in the UPMC Events Center in Moon Township, Pa.
The Lady Buffs (32-3) return to a place among the NCAA Division II Volleyball final four for a second year in a row and their 10th national semifinal match after defeating Clarion (28-7) in a quarterfinal round sweep (25-23, 25-16, 25-18) Thursday. Tampa (32-1) upended Bentley (25-7) in its quarterfinal needing four sets for the win (25-16, 24-26, 25-14, 25-13).
Quarterfinal to WT. After a close first set, fourth-seeded West Texas A&M ran out to early leads in both the second and third sets leading to dominate finishes and a quarterfinal sweep over fifth-seed Clarion (25-23, 25-16, 25-18).
- Torrey Miller finished with 12 kills on 30 attempts with only two errors to hit .333. Blair Moreland led with 20 assists while Bryli Contreras and Miller split with 10 digs apiece. WT middle blockers Taytum Stow and Carly Evetts put up three blocks apiece.
- In the second set, Miller recorded her 1,950th career kill to surpass former Lady Buff Shannon Stroud (1999-2002) for the third most career kills in WT history. Miller posted her 12th double-double (12 kills, 10 digs) in the 2023 season and 59th of her career.
Semifinal Match. WT and UT have a storied history playing 13 times overall with the Spartans carrying an 8-5 record in the all-time series. Friday's match will be the second time the two have squared-off in the NCAA Division II tournament semifinals. Tampa came away with a 3-2 win in the first national tournament meeting (Dec. 3, 1999). The two teams are tied in second for the second most national championships with four each.
Championship Route. The winner of the WT vs. Tampa semifinal will meet the winner of the Cal State LA vs. Missouri-St. Louis semifinal in the Division II championship match on Saturday (Dec. 9, 4:00 p.m. CT). It would be defending national champion WT's sixth national title match appearance should they win in the semifinals.
- WT is making its 30th appearance in the NCAA Division II national tournament and carries a 62-22 overall record in all rounds of the NCAA postseason.
Live Coverage. All matches for the NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship are live streamed and available at NCAA.com or through streaming on the OTT app. Fans can purchase individual matches for $9.95 or the full tournament through the NCAA Championship option for $29.99. As a reminder, the NCAA tournament matches are not included in the LSC Digital Network annual, season or game packages.
NCAA Division II Volleyball Bracket and Video Links