KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Providence is the No. 6 seed for the NAIA women's volleyball championship, which begins Saturday with opening-round matches at campus sites.
The Argos (31-2) will host Northwest (Wash.) in one of 24 first-round matches. The winners of those 24 matches will advance to the final site at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.
It's been a historic season for Providence, which won both the Frontier Conference regular-season and tournament championships. The Argos were ranked No. 1 in the NAIA before a late-season loss to Bellevue (Neb.), which snapped a 25-game win streak.
The Argos have won five straight matches since that loss, including a four-set victory over Bellevue in the Frontier Conference tournament championship on Saturday.
Northwest earned an at-large bid out of the Cascade Collegiate Conference with a 16-12 overall record. The Eagles have lost seven of their past 10 matches and went 1-1 at the Cascade Conference tournament, defeating Lewis-Clark State College in a play-in match and losing to Bushnell in the quarterfinal round.
Match time for Saturday's meeting between Providence and Northwest has yet to be announced.
Bellevue also made the national tournament out of the Frontier Conference. The Bruins are the No. 7 seed and will host Columbia (Mo.) in the opening round.
No other Frontier Conference teams qualified for the 48-team field.
Eastern Oregon earned the No. 1 overall seed for the NAIA tournament, followed by No. 2 Northwestern (Iowa), No. 3 Concordia (Neb.), No. 4 Indiana Wesleyan and No. 5 Corban (Ore.).
Twenty-four teams will advance from the opening round to the final site, which hosts pool play matches Dec. 3-5. Bracket play begins Dec. 6 with four quarterfinal matches. The semifinals are Dec. 8, and the championship is Dec. 9.
