The Chicago State volleyball team earned a berth in the 2023 National Invitational Volleyball Tournament, their second berth in the last three years, and will travel to Des Moines, Iowa to face host Drake in a first round match on Wednesday, November 29 at 6 p.m. at the Knapp Center. The winner of that match will face the winner of the DePaul versus Southern Illinois match on Thursday, November 30 at 6 p.m.
Chicago State finished their season with a 13-8 record playing an independent schedule. The Cougars opened the season winning six of their first eight matches while nine of their 13 victories were 3-0 sweeps. Senior
Yanlis Feliz, CSU's first AVCA All-American and first All-American at CSU since 1987, ranks 27th in the nation in kills per set averaging 4.16 while freshman
Wiktoria Zagumny has been ranked as high as 10th in the nation in assists per set and currently ranks 51st averaging 10.23. The Cougars first berth in the NIVC Tournament came following the 2021 season and ended with a first round loss to Bradley, 3-1.
Drake advanced to the championship match of the NIVC Tournament a season ago, losing in the final 3-1 to Boston College. This season the Bulldogs were 22-10 and 14-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference where they finished second to Northern Iowa who defeated Drake 3-2 in the conference title match, with the Bulldogs coming back from a 2-0 deficit to eventually force a fifth and deciding set.
This is the sixth edition of the NIVC since its reboot through Triple Crown Sports. The event previously ran from 1989-95. Previous champions of the current NIVC are Boston College (2022), UNLV (2021), Georgia Tech (2019), Iowa State (2018) and Ole Miss (2017).
The 2023 NIVC features Round 1 and 2 action from November 29-December 2, Round 3 is scheduled for December 5-7. The semifinals will be held December 7-10 and the championship match be played December 10-12.
See the complete 2023 NIVC Bracket
HERE.
2023 Automatic Qualifiers:
Buffalo (23-8) – Mid-American*
Citadel (27-3) – Southern*
Drake (22-10) – Missouri Valley
Howard (17-14) – Mid-Eastern Athletic
Sacramento State (21-11) – Big Sky*
St. John's (23-10) – Big East
South Florida (19-11) – American*
UMKC (22-8) – Summit*
Wichita State (21-8) – American
Winthrop (14-13) – Big South
*won or had share of regular season conference title
At-Large Selections:
Arkansas State (16-14) – Sun Belt
Ball State (16-14) – Mid-American
Chicago State (13-8) – Independent
Clemson (17-13) – Atlantic Coast
DePaul (17-14) – Big East
East Carolina (20-10) – American
Eastern Kentucky (21-8) – Atlantic Sun
Florida Atlantic (20-12) – American
Georgia Southern (21-8) – Sun Belt
Middle Tennessee (20-9) – Conference USA
Montana State (21-8) – Big Sky
North Texas (17-15) – American
Northern Colorado (17-11) – Big Sky
Pacific (18-10) – West Coast
South Dakota (18-10) – Summit*
Southern Illinois (20-11) – Missouri Valley
Tulsa (17-14) – American
UNLV (19-12) – Mountain West
UT Arlington (20-10) – Western Athletic
UTEP (21-9) – Conference USA
Valparaiso (18-14) – Missouri Valley
Wyoming (20-9) – Mountain West
About Chicago State Athletics
Chicago State University Athletics is composed of 15 intercollegiate teams involving over 150 student-athletes that compete in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and volleyball. CSU held memberships in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and NCAA Division II before transitioning to NCAA Division I in 1994.
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