ITHACA, N.Y. – As announced earlier this week during the NCAA Division III Selection Show, the nationally ranked No. T-20 ranked Ithaca College volleyball team is once again in the NCAA Division III Championship tournament, marking the ninth-straight season that the Bombers will be competing in the 64-team field. The Bombers are slated to travel to the campus of Johns Hopkins where they will compete in a regional pod beginning with taking on on Lasell University. Also competing in the JHU regional are the host Blue Jays, Bridgewater State, Cortland, Carnegie Mellon, Smith College and Endicott College.

The Bombers moved up to a tie for No. 20 in the most recent AVCA/TARAFLEX Coaches Poll that was released on Tuesday. Johns Hopkins is the only other nationally ranked team within the regional as the Blue Jays moved up to No. 3.

Ithaca (22-6) have been impressive all season long as the Bombers were undefeated during Liberty League play going a perfect 8-0 for the third-straight season and they enter the NCAA Tournament winners of three matches in a row. IC also sports a 5-3 record when playing on neutral courts and have taken down nationally ranked No. 21 Trinity (Texas) (25-20, 25-22, 23-25, 25-20), along with defeating schools that have been receiving votes such as Springfield College (25-22, 25-22, 25-23), Smith College (29-27, 25-20, 25-21) and William Smith on two separate occasions including the most recent being the three-set sweep in the Liberty League Championship match (25-10, 25-15, 25-15).
 
The Bombers will be squaring off against Lasell University for the third time in program history on Thursday and will be the first meeting between the two programs since the 2014 season where Ithaca won in three sets (25-17, 25-9, 25-13).
 
The Lasers earned an automatic qualifying bid after winning the GNAC Championship as they defended their title winning in three sets over Johnson & Wales (25-18, 25-19, 25-13). Lasell swept the major awards within the GNAC Conference with McKenna McCool named Player of the Year, Syney Katz earned Setter of the Year and Madeline Caro was the Libero of the Year. McCool has spearheaded the Lasers attack collecting double-digit kills in 18 matches, including a season-high 20 kills a month ago against Kean. Sydney Latz has dished out 744 total assists entering the NCAA Tournament, while Madeline Caro has produced 417 digs, which is nearly 25% of the teams' total digs (1708).

Joining Ithaca and Lasell their side of the eight-team pod are the Smith College Pioneers, who will be making their first NCAA appearance since 2005 and fourth overall and will face Endicott. Smith won the NEWMAC Championship on Sunday with a 3-2 victory over previously unbeaten and fourth-ranked MIT. Headlining the attack for the Pioneers has been outside hitter Abby Hunt who is a two-time AVCA All-Region II Honorable Mention selection and has produced a career-high 364 kills and 3.68 per set. She also has the fifth most digs at 152 with Sarah Dankovich corralling 369.
 
Thursday's matchup with Endicott with be the fifth all-time meeting between the two programs, having not met since 2016 where the Gulls were victorious 3-0. Endicott received an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament after defeating Wentworth, 3-0, in the Conference of New England (CNE) Championship match and is making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2022. The Gulls are led by Hadley Helenbrook who has amassed 489 kills while hitting .247.
 
On the other side of the bracket are crosstown rivals the Cortland Red Dragons, who are led by sixth year head coach Erin Glickert and won the SUNYAC title this past weekend to earn an NCAA automatic bid. The Red Dragons (26-5) will open up against Carnegie Mellon (19-11) in their first-round matchup and a couple of players to watch for them are Anna Pilkey who leads them with 272 kills and Alexa Guedez who has a team-high 99 blocks.
 
Carnegie Mellon is making its third-straight trip to the national tournament after earning a "Pool C" berth and took fifth-place in the UAA Championships, defeating NYU, 3-1. The Tartans are led by Julianna McFarland and Neha Tumala. McFarland leads the team in hitting percentage at .248, block solos with 24 and block assists with 56. She also is second with 239 kills, while Neha Tummala helps churn out the offense with 1,163 assists and 10.48 assists per set which both ranked second in the UAA during the regular season.

Johns Hopkins are the top-seeded team in the regional pod and put together a 27-2 regular season record that included a perfect 10-0 mark within the Centennial Conference. The Blue Jays have won 19-straight matches and most recently swept Swarthmore College to win their conference tournament. They're led by Centennial Conference Player of the Year Simone Adam who averaged 3.60 kills per set to lead the Centennial while hitting at a career-best .362% clip. Simirin Carlsen and Evelyn Batista have each collected 283 and 231 digs apiece.
 
The Blue Jays will be squaring off against Bridgewater State University (13-9) who won the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament in a reverse sweep (22-25, 9-25, 25-16, 25-18, 15-13). The Bears swung at .171% clip to mount the comeback improving in each set as they'll be making their 10^th overall national tournament appearance and first since 2008. Sophomore middle hitter Lily Welch has been their top hitter averaging 2.54 kills per set and fellow sophomore Ava Crane can be dangerous at the service line with 52 aces on the season.

The following are the scheduled start times for this weekend's Regional Rounds with first round play beginning on Thursday.

Thursday, November 21, 2024
NCAA Opening Round (Round of 64)
Match 1: Smith (30-6) vs. Endicott (22-7) - 11:30 a.m.
Match 2: Ithaca (22-6) vs. Lasell (30-5) - 2:00 p.m.
Match 3: Cortland (26-5) vs. Carnegie Mellon (19-11) - 4:30 p.m.
Match 4: Johns Hopkins (29-2) vs. Bridgewater State (13-9) - 7:00 p.m.
 
Friday, November 22, 2024
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 23, 2024
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
Students with ID - $8
Children (ages 2-12 yrs) - $5
Children under 2 yrs - free

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