QU volleyball team earns No. 1 seed in Midwest, will play host to regional beginning Thursday

QUINCY — Knowing it was only a matter of time before she’d see the Quincy University volleyball team’s name appear on the national tournament bracket, Mattison Norris watched with a little wide-eyed wonder as teams in other regions got their name called.

“I was thinking, ‘That’s going to be insane. That’s going to be us. We’re going to see our name up there and No. 1,’” said Norris, a senior first-team All-Great Lakes Valley Conference outside hitter. “That’s crazy.”

Making the first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history is crazy beautiful.

The Hawks watched the NCAA Division II selection show in the school’s Hall of Fame Room on Sunday night, learning about 15 minutes into the broadcast they were the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region and will play host to the regional tournament.

Quincy will face eighth-seeded Northern Michigan in one of four matches Thursday at Pepsi Arena. The semifinals will be Friday with the region championship scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

The region champion earns a berth in the Elite Eight, which will be played at Royal Brougham Pavilion in Seattle.

“We all know the atmosphere Pepsi (Arena) creates,” senior defensive specialist Kailey Reckers said. “The community is also so excited to see this team. This is something I think the community is proud of, something the university is definitely proud of. So we’re going to have an amazing crowd.”

That’s the advantage earned by going 27-2 overall and 19-2 against in-region opponents.

“We’re here to compete,” Reckers said. “When you look at us compared to all the other teams, we have the strong players that it takes to win this tournament. We have an amazing chance.”

It’s the best chance the Hawks have ever had.

“We’re very confident and we play very well at home,” said QU coach Mark Jones, whose team is 22-3 at home the past three seasons. “We want this, and it’s another opportunity. I know we’ll be ready and get to work (Monday) at practice.”

The motivation of being the No. 1 seed is a spark, too.

“It was such an amazing feeling, but also that validation we needed all year that we didn’t get from anyone else,” Reckers said. “We stuck it out and we got this spot. We’ve had an amazing year. It’s something we definitely deserved.”

That is why there really wasn’t a “wow, we got in” moment.

It was more of a “we deserve this and let’s go get it” reaction.

“It’s time to come in and grind again,” Norris said. “It’s time to get back to work. We can have our ‘wow’ moment, but this is what we want, to get back to work and get ready for Thursday.”

Another chapter in an historic season needs written.

“It’s fantastic,” Reckers said. “It’s really cool to continue to reset those history books for our program. To be the team to finally do it is awesome.”