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CUNYAC DOUBLE DIP: Baruch College (23-15) and Hunter College (25-8) were both selected on Sunday Night for the inaugural NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship, which begins next Saturday. A nine team field was chosen via six automatic qualifiers (including Baruch) and three at-large teams (including Hunter).
The Bearcats discovered that they will host Elms College in a play-in match scheduled for Saturday, April 21, at 7:00 pm, in the ARC Arena in the first-ever game of the new NCAA Tournament. The winner of that match will play the host and top-seed Springfield College the following Thursday, April 27th at 12:30 pm.
The following match at the NCAA's will feature the Hawks and nearby Kean University (25-10) on Friday, April 27 at 2:30 pm. The Hawks, the number five seed in the event, earned one of three coveted Pool C berths, which selects schools from automatic-qualifying conferences that are not the conference champion.
"I'm excited the team received an at-large bid into the NCAAs. I think our team still has work to do and I'm glad we'll get to perform on a national stage," said Hunter head coach Ray Bello. We're looking to finish when we play, we missed opportunities and lost some momentum in those final games against Baruch so I'm looking forward to the guys coming out with high energy and intensity against a very good Kean team."
In the 2012 CUNY Athletic Conference / Con Edison Men's Volleyball Championship final at the Hunter College Sportsplex last Thursday, #13 Baruch College Bearcats stormed back after dropping the first two sets to defeating their host, the #11 Hunter College Hawks, riding a 20-match win streak, 23-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-18, 15-10. The Bearcats have won four straight CUNYAC Championships and went to the Molten National Final Four last spring (finishing fourth) in the unofficial championship event for NCAA Division III members.
"I couldn't have foreseen being this fortunate last week when the two schools were battling it out for the title," said CUNYAC Executive Director Zak Ivkovic, who co-sponsored the NCAA legislation to make this championship official back in 2011. "To have our two most outstanding schools chosen for a nine-team NCAA field is a testament to the skill and commitment by our members to men's volleyball for the past 25 years. And to have Baruch host the first-ever game is very special."
After Baruch the championship will begin in earnest Blake Arena at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts with four quarterfinal matches on April 27, followed by the semifinals on April 28th and the NCAA Champions will be crowned on Sunday, April 29th.
More information and team previews will be posted during the week. See our recent story on the newest NCAA Championship event here.For complete tournament CUNYAC coverage see the CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL page.
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