South Dakota State volleyball team gets second-straight at-large berth in NCAA tournament

Nov. 30—BROOKINGS — As expected, the South Dakota State volleyball team was selected for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament on Sunday.

The Jackrabbits earned a 7-seed and will face the Arizona Wildcats on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Stanford, Calif.

It's the second year in a row in which SDSU dominated the Summit League regular season, lost in the conference tournament championship, but still had a strong enough resume to get the at-large bid. The Jacks (23-4) went 16-0 during the regular season and took a 17-game winning streak into the Summit League tournament championship match, where they were stunned 3-1 by St. Thomas.

The Tommies (21-9) will face Iowa State in Minneapolis on Friday, giving them somewhat of a home-court advantage in their NCAA tournament debut. The Tommies are in their first year of postseason eligibility in Division I, and their volleyball team is the first of St. Thomas' programs to reach an NCAA tournament.

Arizona (16-12) earned an at-large bid after going 10-8 in Big 12 play. Last year the Wildcats were left out of the NCAA tournament and went on to win the NIVC (similar to basketball's NIT).