After nearly three months of preparation, and continuous achievement over that time, the Clarkson University Volleyball team was rewarded Monday morning with its first ever Division III NCAA Tournament selection, as the Golden Knights were picked to play in the Massachusetts Region this weekend (view PDF notes section).
The Golden Knights, 28-6 overall and 24-3 against teams in New York and the surrounding states, will play Wellesley College Thursday in the Massachusetts Region, hosted by Tufts University this weekend. Clarkson won the Liberty League Tournament Championship on Saturday afternoon, but the conference does not own an automatic bid due a shortage of teams in the league (five), so the Knights had to wait it out for a bid. Each league is required to have at least seven teams in its conference to qualify for an automatic bid.
"We are honored to have been selected to the elite group of schools that will battle for the National Title," said head coach Johan Dulfer. "This has been a season of firsts for Clarkson, and I'm so proud that this group will get to experience yet another milestone in the development of our program. We will fight even harder and play even tougher to make this amazing season last as long as we possibly can."
The selection for the NCAA Tournament is Clarkson’s first in the 35-year history of the program, as the Golden Knights have topped the 20-win mark in six of the last seven seasons. Their 28-6 record is easily the best winning percentage in the program’s history and is just one win shy of tying the single-season record (29-11 in 2003).
If Clarkson is to beat Wellesley in its opening round match, they will face either Maine-Maritime or the host institution, Tufts, in round two on Friday. The championship round of the regional takes place on Saturday evening. Rounding out the remainder of the bracket are Williams, Emerson, UMass-Boston, and Westfield State.
The Clarkson Volleyball team becomes the third Division III program in the last 18 months to make its first NCAA appearance, joining the Men’s Basketball team (February 2008) and the Baseball team (May 2009).
