UTM Volleyball Playing in National Championship
It was recently announced that the University of Tennessee at Martin will travel to Troy, Ala. and face the Troy Trojans in the first round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. First serve is set for Thursday, Dec. 1 at 5 p.m.
The Skyhawks are one of four teams in the Troy pod of the 32-team bracket, joining the host Trojans, Southern Miss and Alabama State. Other first-round hosts include Portland State, Wichita State, UTRGV, Wake Forest, Boston College, Ohio and Liberty.
Operated by Triple Crown Sports, the NIVC originated in 1989 and ran through 1995 before being revived in 2017. Past champions include Wisconsin (twice), Houston, Kentucky, Washington State, LSU, Cal State Northridge, Ole Miss, Iowa State, Georgia Tech and UNLV. UT Martin will be the fifth different Ohio Valley Conference representative in the NIVC, joining Murray State (1989, 1992), Eastern Kentucky (1990), Morehead State (1993, 2019) and SIUE (2017).
This marks the second postseason appearance in Skyhawk volleyball history and first since the program took part in the 2002 NCAA Tournament. UT Martin was one of 14 automatic qualifiers in the 2022 NIVC field after winning the school’s first OVC regular season championship since 2002.
The Skyhawks went 22-11 overall with a 15-3 mark in OVC play this fall, tying a school record for most conference victories. UT Martin currently ranks in the top-25 nationally in total attacks (4,565, 10th), service aces (203, 19th), kills (1,624, 24th) and digs (1,895, 25th). OVC Coach of the Year Jaclynn Wilson presided over a pair of All-OVC first team selections in Karen Scanlon (3.04 kills per set, .252 hitting percentage, 2.38 digs per set) and Logan Wallick (3.21 kills per set, .287 attack percentage) – who each recorded their 1,000th career kill in 2022.
The Skyhawks have faced the Trojans seven times in their NCAA Division I history (since 1992) and will be making their first trip to Troy since 2006. The Trojans went 18-12 overall with an 11-5 record in the Sun Belt Conference this season, falling to eventual league champion James Madison in five sets during the tournament semifinals. Amara Anderson (1,243 assists, 10.53 per set) and Tori Hester (503 kills, 4.23 per set) each secured All-Sun Belt first team accolades while Julia Brooks (331 kills, 102 blocks) was named to the All-Sun Belt second team under head coach Josh Lauer.
For more information on the NIVC, which runs through Dec. 13, click on this link: https://www.womensnivc.com/.
