CMS Volleyball Heads to Chicago for NCAA Opening Round Match-Up with WashU

NCAA Bracket

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The No. 5 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team will head to the University of Chicago for the NCAA Division III Regionals, drawing Washington (Mo.) University in the opening round, which will be held on Friday.

The Athenas (26-3) will face WashU for the second time this season, after defeating the Bears 3-1 at the East to West Battle in September. A year ago, the same tournament was held at CMS, with WashU prevailing by the same 3-1 score. 

CMS drew the most difficult bracket in the country with three of the top five teams in the most recent AVCA poll all playing at Chicago. The host Maroons are ranked No. 2 after holding down the No. 1 spot for over a month until a five-set loss to current No. 1 Emory in the conference championship. Carthage (27-3), which would potentially be the second round opponent for CMS if both advanced, is currently ranked No. 4 and opens with Grinnell. 

The Athenas are one of the most experienced teams in the field as well, having won the program's first-ever national championship two years ago. Four of the current CMS players were regulars in the rotation on the national chapmionship team, including junior middles Regan Dinovitz and Melanie Moore, who were both starters. Current seniors Phoebe Madsen and Sarah Tritschler were three-rotation players on the title squad off the bench, and currently are six-rotation players as a setter/right side and libero, respectively. 

Last year, after graduating eight seniors off the 2017 team and having none on the roster, CMS still had a bid to repeat as national champions, earning a top-10 ranking all season, but came up short with a 3-1 loss to Wisconsin-Eau Claire in the Round of 32, before Wisconsin-Eau Claire advanced to the national semifinals. 

CMS earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with a 3-0 win over Chapman in the SCIAC Championship match on Saturday afternoon. Moore earned Tournament MVP honors after tallying 10 kills in 16 attempts in the finals match, including the kill on match point to seal the title.