Top-seeded Concordia plays Lewis and Alaska-Anchorage takes on Palm Beach Atlantic at 6 p.m. in Friday’s NCAA Division II national semifinals in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Concordia, of St. Paul, Minn., improved to 33-2 by demolishing American International 25-6, 25-16, 25-13 in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Eighth-seeded American International ended its season 28-7. The teams were reseeded once the round of eight was established.
Click here for the NCAA recap.
Fifth-seeded Lewis of Romeoville, Ill., had to work hard to knock out defending-champion Wheeling Jesuit of West Virginia 25-17, 26-24, 30-28 and improve to 29-7. Fourth-seeded Wheeling Jesuit saw its season end 41-3.
Click here for the Lewis recap.
Palm Beach Atlantic of Florida moved on by defeating USC Aiken of South Carolina 25-23, 25-22, 25-20. The second-seeded Sailfish improved to 32-3, while No. 7 seed Aiken saw its season end 31-5.
Click here for the PBA recap.
Alaska-Anchorage went four to beat Angelo State 14-25, 25-22, 27-25, 25-16. The Seawolves improved to 33-2 and are in the semifinals for the first time.
The third-seeded Belles ended their season 34-4.
Here is the recap from the Alaska Daily News.
All of Friday’s matches will be streamed live at NCAA.com.
Ohio State No. 1 in AVCA
Defending-champion Ohio State grabbed the top spot in the AVCA Division I-II men’s preseason poll released Thursday.
The Buckeyes got 23 of the 24-first-place votes. The other went to No. 2 UCLA.
Rounding out the top five of the 15-team poll are No. 3 BYU, followed by Long Beach State and Pepperdine.
Ohio State upset BYU last May 7 in Columbus to win the national championship.
The men’s season starts in earnest in January, but some teams have late-December exhibitions and some non-conference matches. On Dec. 29, the MPSF’s UC Irvine goes to Concordia and Lewis of the MIVA entertains Alberta. The EIVA and Conference Carolinas don’t have matches scheduled until January.
The next AVCA poll is January 9. To see the current poll, click here.
