Wichita State volleyball will host postseason NIVC games at Koch Arena once again
For the second straight season, the Wichita State volleyball team accepted a bid to play in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship on Sunday evening.
The Shockers enter postseason play with a 21-8 record, their most wins in a season since their memorable 2017 debut in the American Athletic Conference.
WSU flirted with a potential at-large bid to the NCAA tournament this season, but ultimately a RPI that settled at No. 61 in the country and the lack of a postseason conference tournament prevented the Shockers from playing their way in.
Instead, WSU will host the first and second rounds in the NIVC bracket at Koch Arena with the Shockers playing Arkansas State (16-14) at 6 p.m. Thursday. On the other side of the pod, Tulsa (17-14) will play Kansas City (22-8) at 3:30 p.m. Thursday with the winners advancing to a 1:30 p.m. match on Friday. Tickets are available through the WSU ticket office or GoShockers.com.
The Shockers could potentially host games at Koch Arena throughout the tournament if they continue to advance. The winner of the Wichita regional will face the winner of the Drake regional in next week’s quarterfinals.
While conference champion SMU received a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the American had six teams make the 32-team NIVC field: WSU, Tulsa, South Florida, East Carolina, North Texas and Florida Atlantic.
It will be the third NIVC appearance for the Shockers in the last six seasons after WSU was eliminated in the opening round last season at home by Grand Canyon and lost in the second round to North Texas in 2018.
This story was originally published November 27, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
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