DALLAS – WKU, the Conference USA champion, and Rice will represent C-USA in the 2021 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship, announced Sunday by the NCAA.
 
The Hilltoppers (27-1) will face South Carolina (14-14) in a first-round game at Georgia Tech’s O’Keefe Gymnasium on December 2 at 3:30 p.m. CT. The winner will advance to the second round December 3 against the winner of The Citadel/Georgia Tech match.
 
Rice (19-6) will face San Diego (20-7) on December 2 at 4 p.m. in Austin. The winner will advance to play the winner of Texas/Sacred Heart on Friday.
 
NCAA Interactive Bracket
 
WKU won the C-USA East Division title in the regular season with a 12-0 conference mark, and the Hilltoppers earned the C-USA automatic bid with a 3-1 victory in the Conference USA Volleyball Championship final over Rice on November 21. This will be the team’s 14th tournament appearance, 12 automatic bids and two at-large selections, and the seventh in the last eight seasons.
 
WKU begins the NCAAs on a 20-game winning streak. During the C-USA Championship, the Hilltoppers defeated UAB 3-0 in the quarterfinals and beat UTEP 3-0 in the semifinals to reach the title game against Rice.
 
The Owls, C-USA West Division champion, will be appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight time and seventh under Coach Genny Volpe. This comes after their fourth consecutive trip to the conference championship match following a 12-0 record in conference play for a second straight season. Both the Owls and WKU have appeared in the NCAA Tournament in both the last two seasons.
 
The 2021 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship will take place at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The national semifinals will take place on December 16 on ESPN, followed by the final on December 18 on ESPN2.