Raiders Draw The Second Seed At NECVA Tournament

2011 NECVA TOURNAMENT FIELD ANNOUNCED; DEFENDING CHAMPION NAZARETH DRAWS TOP SEED

JERSEY CITY, NJ...The regular season is nearing completion, the divisional champions have been crowned and the selections for the 17th and final North East Collegiate Volleyball Association championship tournament have been determined. After more than three months of competition, the field of 16 which will compete for the 2011 NECVA Championship from Friday, April 1 through Sunday, April 3 at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ was announced Monday by the NECVA Tournament Selection Committee. The 2011 NECVA champion will receive the league's automatic bid to the Molten Division III Men's Invitational Volleyball Championship, to be held at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York on April 15-16. If Nazareth wins the NECVA championship, the league's runner-up will also qualify for the Molten Championship.

Overall, the conference's six divisional champions—CUNYAC, GNAC, Metro, New England, Skyline and UVC Divisions—plus 10 at-large selections from among the 40 other eligible schools in the league, will battle for the 17th NECVA championship. The UVC Division matched a league record with five schools qualifying, while the GNAC, Metro and New England Divisions each had three selections. The CUNYAC and Skyline champions complete the field.

Nazareth College, which last year stunned the tournament when it won its first NECVA championship, doing so as the 15th seed, won't have the chance to play the role of Cinderella this season. The Golden Flyers, the #2 ranked in the country, are 25-3 and the UVC Division champions are the No. 1 overall seed in the 2011 NECVA Tournament. Nazareth makes its sixth straight NECVA Tournament appearance. Naz has won 16 consecutive matches and went undefeated (9-0) in the UVC regular season action. The No. 16 seed is Lasell College (22-14). The Lasers make their first-ever NECVA Tournament appearance—the only first-time qualifier in the 2011 field. Lasell was third in the GNAC regular season standings before advancing to the division's championship match.

Rivier College (31-8), the GNAC Division champions, claims the #2 seed in the conference tournament. Rivier, the 2006 NECVA champions, will make its 11th consecutive NECVA Tournament appearance since 2001. The Raiders will face #15th seeded Bard College (20-11). The Raptors, who were Skyline Division regular season and tournament champions, qualify for the NECVA Tournament for only the second time in program history and the first time since 2006.

Baruch College (30-12), which won its third consecutive CUNYAC Division championship this season, is the tournament's No. 3 seed. It is the eighth consecutive appearance in the tournament and 10th overall. Ramapo College (16-10) is the No. 14 seed. After a sluggish start to the year, the Roadrunners have won eight of their last 10 matches and make their 15th tournament appearance—tied for most all-timeR 12;and qualify for the sixth year in a row.

Metro Division champion Philadelphia Biblical University (21-10) is the #4 seed for the second year in a row. The Crimson Eagles, which were 12-0 in their first year as a Metro Division member, make their sixth tournament appearance and fifth straight. PBU was the 2010 tournament runners-up. The No. 13 seed is Newbury College (23-11), the third place squad from the New England Division. The Nighthawks make their sixth appearance in the tournament and fifth in a row.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology won the New England Division title and the Engineers (28-6) are the No. 5 seed. MIT qualifie s for its seventh consecutive NECVA Tournament. The No. 12 seed is Stevenson University (24-6). The extremely young Mustangs squad, the third team selected from the Metro Division, qualifies for only its second NECVA Tournament, and first since 2006.

Emmanuel College (26-8) is the highest seeded at-large team and the GNAC regular season runners up (11-1) earn their highest seeding in its history. The Saints make their fifth tournament appearance overall, qualifying in consecutive years. The Boston, Massachusetts program will meet another Boston-area opponent in the first round, when it faces No. 11 seeded Endicott College (22-12). The Gulls, runners-up in the New England Division, make their eighth NECVA Tournament appearance and fifth in a row.

The 7/10 and 8/9 matches feature UVC opponents squaring off. Medaille College (21-5) was 8-1 in the UVC Division regular season and despite falling in the UVC quarterfinals, earns the No. 7 seed in the 2011 NECVA Tournament. The talented Mavericks make their 11th appearance in the tournament and eighth in a row. Their first-round opponent will be Vassar College (17-11), the 10th seed. The Brewers make their fourth straight tournament appearance since joining the NECVA, and won the league championship in 2008.

Stevens (16-11), which is hosting the tournament for the sixth time, but the first year since 2001, draws the No. 8 seed. The Ducks finished third in the UVC regular season standings (7-2) and tie Ramapo with its record 15th tournament appearance and 14th in a row. Stevens, which won the 2009 NECVA title, has won the NECVA championship four times and in each odd-numbered year since 2003 (2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009). The No. 9 seed is SUNY New Paltz (20-12). Despite finishing in sixth place in the UVC regular season standings (3-6), the Hawks made a decisive run to the divisional title match, losing at Nazareth in a five-set marathon, 30-32, 18-25, 25-19, 25-23, 18-16, to, greatly enhance its post-season positioning. New Paltz makes its seventh appearance in the championship.

The tournament opens with eight first-round matches on Friday, April 1. Four quarterfinal and two semifinal matches will be contested on Saturday, April 2. That evening, the annual conference banquet will be held at the Me adowlands Plaza Hotel in Secaucus, NJ, where the All-Conference Team, 2011 NECVA Hall of Fame class, and the winner of The David Hildebrandt Rising Star Award will be unveiled. The NECVA Championship will be decided on Sunday, April 3 at 1 p.m.