PREVIEW: Women’s Volleyball Set to Face No. 18 MIT in NCAA Tournament First Round Friday

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College women's volleyball team will be making its second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance Friday when it takes on No. 18 Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the first round.

BASICS:
Date: 11/12/21
Location: Rockwell Cage | Cambridge, Mass.
Time: 8:00 pm
Follow: Live Stats | Live Video
Spectator Policy: All spectators must be masked – regardless of vaccination status.

Single Session Tickets: Adult $6 | Senior Citizen: $4 | Student: $4 | Children (ages 3-12): $3 | Children (under 2 years): Free
All-Session Tickets: Adult $12 | Senior Citizen: $10 | Student: $10 | Children (ages 3-12): $7 | Children (under 2 years): Free

BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPS:
Eastern Nazarene captured its second-consecutive New England Collegiate Conference Championship with a 3-1 victory at top-seeded New England College November 7. Ruth Aguilar (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) was named the NECC Tournament MVP while Eliana Baran (Beaumont, Calif.) and Emma Graves (Berkshire, N.Y.) were also tabbed to the All-Tournament Team.

NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY:
Eastern Nazarene is making its second-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Lions made their NCAA Tournament debut in 2019 and fell to Tufts in the opening round.

ENC vs. MIT – ALL-TIME SERIES:
Eastern Nazarene and MIT have squared off 41 in program history with the Engineers holding a 27-14 advantage in the all-time series. The two teams last met in 2014 and the last time Eastern Nazarene topped MIT was in 1996.

AWARDS HAUL:
Eliana Baran (Beaumont, Calif.) swept the NECC Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards. Ruth Aguilar (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) and Emma Graves (Berkshire, N.Y.) joined Baran on the All-NECC team. Rookie Piper Bolner (LaGrangeville, N.Y.) was selected to the NECC Del Malloy Sportsmanship Team. Head coach Derek Schmitt was voted the NECC Co-Coach of the Year.

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS:
MIT enters the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 18 in the latest AVCA National Coaches Poll and No. 1 in the NCAA Regional Rankings while sporting a 26-3 overall record. The Engineers swept Springfield to capture their seventh the NEWMAC championship and to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the 20th time in program history. Ella Gragg paces MIT with 241 kills on the year while Allison Brattley notched 214 kills and Annie Bryan added 212 kills. Emily Cheng has racked up 948 assists on the season.