WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Howard University Bison will be making its first trip to the NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship and will face No. 7 seed and two-time defending national champion Penn State University.
The Bison (18-13) received the automatic qualifier after winning the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Volleyball Championship after a 3-0 win over Bethune-Cookman. Howard captured its eighth volleyball title and first since 1994. Howard will meet No. 7-seed Penn State on Friday, December 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Rec Hall.
“Penn State is a very good team and it will be great to go play a program with so much history,” Bison head coach Shaun Kupferberg said. “It is all part of the stepping stone process for our program. We’re looking forward to playing hard, having fun, giving it our best shot and learning from the entire experience.”
Atlantic-10 champion Dayton and Big East winner Villanova joins Howard and Penn State in the first and second rounds in University Park, Pa.
The Bison have won 13 straight matches and 15 out of their last 16 matches, with its last loss coming on Oct. 2 against Morgan State. Khaila Donaldson was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player as she registered 17 kills and 16 digs.
Donaldson garnered All-MEAC First Team honors and All-Tournament accolades. Morgan Marlbrough was named to the All-MEAC First Team, and Courtney Dalton earned All-Tournament honors.
Penn State, which was ranked No. 8 in the most recent AVCA Coaches Poll, went 26-5 overall this season and 15-5 in Big Ten play. The Nittany Lions wrapped up the final week of the regular season with a 3-0 win against Northwestern last Wednesday, before falling short in a 3-0 loss on the road at Nebraska in the regular season finale.
The winner of the Penn State first and second round NCAA site will advance to the Des Moines Regional December 11-12 at the Wells Fargo Arena. The Penn State site winner will take on the site winner from Texas A&M, which features the No. 10 Aggies, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, TCU and Hawaii.