QU women’s volleyball team receives bid to NCAA Tournament, to face Grand Valley State in opener

QUINCY — A five-set loss in the semifinals of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament didn’t put the Quincy University women’s volleyball team in serious danger of missing the NCAA Tournament.

It did make the postseason path quite a bit more difficult.

The Hawks learned Monday night they had received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional as the No. 7 and will head to Big Rapids, Mich., to face second-seeded Grand Valley State in the opening round slated for Dec. 5.

Quincy is 25-5 overall, having gone 11-2 in the GLVC to earn the No. 1 seed in the league’s postseason tourney. QU rallied from being down two sets in the GLVC semifinals against fourth-seeded Rockhurst to force a fifth set, but dropped a 25-19, 25-23, 15-25, 23-25, 15-12.

It was Quincy’s second loss to Rockhurst in November, which allowed Rockhurst to jump to the No. 5 seed.

Ferris State is the No. 1 seed, having won the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament championship to improve to 31-0. The Bulldogs have been the No. 1-ranked team in the national poll the last four weeks.

Grand Valley State is 27-3 and went 14-2 in the GLIAC, losing to Ferris State three times, including in the GLIAC Tournament championship match. The Lakers beat the Hawks in the opening round of the Midwest Regional a year ago, earning a 25-18, 25-10, 25-12 victory.

Senior setter Jordy Gates had 10 kills, 11 assists and 12 digs against Quincy last year, while junior outside hitter Kendall Stover had seven kills and five digs in that match. Hawks senior outside hitter Emma Wijnbergen finished with nine kills against the Lakers.

Wijnbergen, who was named the GLVC Player of the Year, has set the GLVC single-season record for kills with 594 putdowns heading into the regional. She is hitting at a .281 percentage with 284 digs and 64 blocks.