AAC Women's Volleyballl Tournament Bracket Set; CIU Earns No. 1 Seed

AAC Women's Volleyballl Tournament Bracket Set; CIU Earns No. 1 Seed
November 3, 2023

WALESKA, Ga. - The field is set for the 2023 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Women's Volleyball Tournament, and Columbia International enters as the No. 1 seed.

The 10-team, single-elimination tournament gets underway on Thursday, Nov. 9, and runs through Saturday, Nov. 11, at the MeadowView Marriott Convention Center & Conference Resort in Kingsport, Tenn. 

Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.

All matches will be streamed live and can be viewed for free by clicking here.

Columbia International is the regular-season champion as it finished with 13.0 points in the standings. The Rams earned the No. 1 seed and receive an automatic berth to the NAIA National Championship Tournament.

The AAC has one other automatic berth to award, which will go to the tournament champion.

Since teams play an unbalanced schedule with eight teams playing 21 conference games while seven teams play 20, a point system is used to determine the seeding for the tournament. A team receives a half-point for winning a match within its division and one point for a win over a team from the other division. In all, the maximum number of points a team can earn is 14.

Here are the tournament seeds:

  1. Columbia International (28-1, 19-1 AAC) - 13.0 points
  2. Milligan (25-6, 19-2 AAC) - 12.0 points
  3. Bryan (20-9, 17-4 AAC) - 11.5 points
  4. Reinhardt (21-7, 14-6 AAC) - 10 points*
  5. Truett McConnell (22-11, 14-6 AAC) - 10 points*
  6. Brenau (12-16, 10-10 AAC) - 7.5 points**
  7. Bluefield (17-14, 12-9 AAC) - 7.5 points**
  8. Pikeville (18-11, 10-11 AAC) - 7 points***
  9. Montreat (14-10, 10-10 AAC) - 7 points***
  10. Union (11-19, 10-11 AAC) - 6.5 points

*-Reinhardt and Truett McConnelll split the season series with each team sweeping the other. However, Reinhardt earned the No. 4 seed since it outscored Truett McConnell in points scored (138-119).
**-Brenau defeated Bluefield 3-1 in their only meeting during the regular season to earn the No. 6 seed.
***-Pikeville defeated Montreat 3-0 in their only meeting during the regular season to earn the No. 8 seed.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
 Thursday, Nov. 9
Game 1 - No. 7 Bluefield (17-14) vs. Union (11-19), 12 pm
Game 2 - No. 8 Pikeville (18-11) vs. No. 9 Montreat (14-10), 2 pm

Friday, Nov. 10
Game 3 - No. 1 Columbia International (28-1) vs. Game 2 Winner, 11 am
Game 4 - No. 2 Milligan (25-6) vs. Game 1 Winner, 1:30 pm
Game 5 - No. 4 Reinhardt (21-7) vs. No. 5 Truett McConnell, 4 pm
Game 6 - No. 3 Bryan (20-9) vs. No. 6 Brenau (12-16), 6:30 pm

Saturday, Nov. 11
 Game 7 - Game 3 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, 10 am
Game 8 - Game 4 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, 12:30 pm
Game 9 - Championship Game - Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner, 4:30 pm