NIVC announces first seven automatic qualifiers for 2018 tournament

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – With less than a week before Selection Sunday, officials with the 2018 National Invitational Volleyball Championships have announced the first set of Automatic Qualifiers to confirm their place in the event.

More teams will be added throughout the week; the rest of the field (expected to be 32 teams overall) will be determined after Sunday’s release by the NCAA of its 64-team field.

For 2018, the first group of AQ teams includes:
Alabama A&M (23-15, SWAC)
Appalachian State (22-8, Sun Belt)
Bowling Green (19-11, MAC)
Central Arkansas (26-6, Southland)
Fresno State (21-9, Mountain West)
Radford (21-6, Big South)
Tulane (24-8, American)

Selection – Nov. 25
Round 1 & 2– Nov. 29-30 & Dec. 1-2
Round 3 – Dec. 5-7
Semifinals – Dec. 7-9
Championship – Tuesday, Dec. 11, 7 p.m. ET
The NIVC was originally played from 1989-1995. With the support of those founders, the current NIVC will feature Automatic Qualifiers who are the teams with the best conference finishes that were not selected for the NCAA Tournament. NIVC officials will select the remainder of the field based on court performance throughout this season.  
​ 
Much like the WNIT and NIT events in college basketball, the NIVC taps into the impressive depth of D-I volleyball and is designed to give more high-performing, highly skilled programs a chance to play for a postseason title. Teams with young rosters get to train and compete with an eye to the future; established rosters get one more chance to play together and memorably cap off their student-athlete experience.
​
About Triple Crown Sports
Based in Fort Collins, CO., Triple Crown Sports has been producing college and youth events for more than 35 years. TCS runs both the preseason and postseason WNIT basketball events and produces the men’s and women’s Cancun Challenge tournaments in November. Triple Crown is also powering “WNIT” concept events in D-I softball (NISC) and volleyball (NIVC), with those two events debuting in 2017. TCS youth fastpitch tournaments (including the 900-team Sparkler/Fireworks event) draw the nation’s finest club programs, and hundreds of college coaches attend TCS events for recruiting purposes.