Tournament Bracket | NCAA Tournament Release | Selection Show (Video) | Regional Program 
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College volleyball team is back in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth consecutive season and are slated to host its first regional since 2018. The Bombers are set to host first, second and third round matchups for just the eighth time in program history as they welcome NYU, Babson, Eastern, Eastern Nazarene, Framingham State, Stevenson and Tufts University to the South Hill.

The Bombers moved up to No. 21 in the most recent AVCA/TARAFLEX Coaches Poll that was released on Tuesday. NYU is the only other nationally ranked team within the regional as the Violets moved up to No. 6.

Ithaca (25-4) have been impressive all season long as the Bombers were undefeated during Liberty League play going a perfect 8-0 for the second-straight season and they enter the NCAA Tournament winners of 10 matches in a row. IC also sports a 10-1 record within Ben Light Gymnasium as they also own non-conference wins over No. 4 NYU (29-27, 25-17, 19-25, 25-20), No. 13 MIT (15-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-20) as well as wins over fellow NCAA Tournament competitors SUNY Cortland (25-19, 26-24, 25-22), Williams (25-22, 25-19, 25-20), Manhattanville (25-15, 25-11, 25-14) and Eastern (21-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-15).

Ithaca's first round opponent will be Framingham State University. The Rams will be making their sixth overall and first appearance since 2021 into the NCAA Tournament as they own a 21-10 record and were the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Tournament Champions. They were the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament where the Rams knocked off the top seed in the semifinals and third seed MCLA in the final to earn the automatic bid. Framingham will see the majority of its offensive production come from freshman middle blocker Natalie Reynolds who was the MASCAC Rookie of the Year after totaling 282 kills and was third in the conference hitting .302. She is dangerous along with Anna Szymanski who ranked second in the league in kills (308) and in kills per set with a 2.88 average per set. Szymanski also collected 295 digs on the year with 23 total blocks and 29 aces.

Joining Ithaca and Framingham State on the bottom side of the eight-team pod are the third seeded Babson Beavers and the sixth seeded Stevenson Mustangs. The Beavers earned an at-large bid following a 3-1 loss to No. 20 MIT in last Saturday's NEWMAC semifinals and own a 24-6 overall record. They're 6-2 in neutral court matches this season and are 21-2 on the year when winning the first set. Babson are led by Erin Gray and Allison Molendyk who average 3.02 and 3.03 kills per set, respectively. Stevenson (22-7) takes on Babson for the first-time ever on Thursday as the Mustangs also received an at-large bid after falling 3-0 to Eastern in the MAC Commonwealth final. They've won four of its last five matches as players to watch include Rileigh Kimball who is averaging 2.90 kills and 2.75 digs per set, conference co-player of the year Darian Dildy (2.50 k/s, 1.10 b/s) ranks first in Division III hitting .437 and Kyle DesLauriers is contributing 2.10 kills and 2.63 digs per set.

Headlining the top portion of the regional bracket includes No. 6 NYU (29-4) who will face Eastern Nazarene (28-2) in the opening round. As a team, NYU ranks among the top 10 in Division III in blocks per set (second, 2.62), total blocks (fourth, 264.5) and hitting percentage (ninth, .258) while leading the UAA in all three categories. Lindsey Hirano currently leads the UAA in total digs (514) and is second in digs per set (5.09). Elsie Curtin is fourth in the nation in blocks per set (1.31) and seventh in total blocks (117), while Haley Holz (3.12) and Grace Nelson (3.07) rank sixth and seventh, respectively, in the association in kills per set. Eastern Nazarene dethroned six-time defending champions Maine Maritime to clinch the North Atlantic Conference Championship as the Lions engineered a reverse sweep in the title match. They're riding a 12-match winning-streak and as a team they average 12.06 kills per set along with 13.80 digs per set.

Eastern (27-3) the winners of the MAC Commonwealth will have an opening match against the Tufts Jumbos (14-10). They last met in an opening round matchup of the 2021 NCAA Tournament as the Jumbos earned an at-large bid out of the New England Small College Athletic Conference. The location is familiar for Eastern as they dropped a four-set loss to Ithaca during non-conference play earlier this season. Despite their last loss in the NESCAC semifinals, the Jumbo squad had been playing some of their best volleyball of the season, having earned wins in four of the previous six and eight of the previous 11 matches.

The following are the scheduled start times for this weekend's Regional Rounds.

Thursday, November 16, 2023
NCAA Opening Round (Round of 64)
Match 1: Eastern (27-3) vs. Tufts (14-10) - 11:30 a.m.
Match 2: NYU (29-4) vs. Eastern Nazarene (28-2) - 2:00 p.m.
Match 3: Babson (24-6) vs. Stevenson (22-7) - 4:30 p.m.
Match 4: Ithaca (25-4) vs. Framingham State (21-10) - 7:00 p.m.
 
Friday, November 17, 2023
NCAA Regional Semifinals (Round of 32)
Match 5: Winner of Match #1 vs. Match #2 Winner - 4:30 p.m.
Match 6: Winner of Match #3 vs. Match #4 Winner - 7:00 p.m.
 
Saturday, November 18, 2023
NCAA Regional Championships (Round of 16)
Match 7: Winner of Match #5 vs. Match #6 Winner - 5:00 p.m.
 
Tickets: The prices are as follows:

Single-Session Tickets: 
Adult - $10
Senior Citizen - $8
Student - $8
Children (ages 3-12 yrs) - $5
Children under 2 yrs - free

All-Session Tickets:  
Adult - $20
Senior Citizen - $12 
Student - $12
Children (ages 3-12 yrs) - $8
Children under 2 yrs - free