There were only three NCAA Division I volleyball matches Tuesday, but all three had major storylines.
Third-seeded South Dakota, which lost to South Dakota State in both of their Summit League regular season meetings, knocked off the top-seeded Jackrabbits in five sets to claim its fifth NCAA Tournament bid in seven years. South Dakota State, No. 30 in the unofficial RPI, will get an at-large bid.
In the Missouri Valley, top-seeded Northern Iowa won the first two sets, lost the third to third-seeded UIC and then trailed 23-15 in the fourth before coming away with a 25-22, 25-20, 16-25, 272-5 victory. UNI, which has won 20 matches in a row, is back in the NCAA tourney for the 20th time and third consecutive year.
And in the Ohio Valley, fourth-seeded Morehead State is headed to the NCAA Tournament despite getting swept by second-seeded Lindenwood. That’s because Lindenwood, in its second year in Division I, is not eligible for NCAA play.
Wednesday’s schedule includes the start of four tournaments, the Big East, Big Sky, Big West and Mountain West.
The matches of the day are in the ACC, where No. 1 Pittsburgh goes No. 3 Louisville in what has become one of greatest rivalries in the college game, No. 6 Stanford is at No. 19 Georgia Tech and No. 9 SMU is at No. 21 Florida…
