Marquette Volleyball Earns At-Large Bid To 2015 NCAA Tournament

The NCAA announced the 64 team field for the 2015 Women's Volleyball Tournament on Sunday night, and Marquette was included in the bracket.

Golden Eagle fans everywhere had to endure seeing 63 teams pop up on their TV screens first, but Marquette eventually turned up in the 64th and final slot.  Marquette will be heading up to the Twin Cities on Friday, where they'll be playing Northern Iowa.  The Panthers are 19-14 and, like Marquette, earned an at-large bid to the tournament.  They finished 12-6 in Missouri Valley Conference play before falling in five sets to Wichita State in the MVC tournament semifinals.

The winner of the Marquette/Northern Iowa match will advance to the second round on Friday.  They'll get the winner of #3 national seed and host Minnesota's match against Jackson State.

It's the fifth consecutive NCAA berth for Marquette, and it's also the fifth NCAA tournament appearance in program history.  The first three bids came under the guidance of Bond Shymansky, while current head coach Ryan Theis has kept things moving forward with two more appearances both last season and this season.

Marquette is one of three Big East teams in the NCAA tournament.  Big East regular season and tournament champion Creighton earned the #16 national seed, but because they didn't bid to host, they'll be headed to North Carolina to take on Coastal Carolina for their first round match.  Big East tournament runner up Villanova earned a bid as well, and they'll play Dayton in a first round match hosted by two time defending national champion Penn State.

Keep your eyes peeled for official match time news and a preview of MU's match later this week!