SURPRISE, Ariz. -- OUAZ Men's Volleyball received an at-large bid to the 2023 NAIA Men's Volleyball Tournament, after a 13-8 overall record on the season and finishing fourth in the Golden State Athletic Conference. They will head into the tournament as the #5 overall seed and #2 seed in Pool D, and will take on No. 4 Park (Mo.) and No. 12 Webber (Fla.) in pool play on April 12-13.
Action inside the Des Moines, Iowa MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex will start with three days of pool play starting on April 11 and ending on April 13. The semifinals will take place on April 14 and the championship on April 15.
OUAZ will begin their postseason run against Webber (Fla.) on Wednesday, April 12 at 2:00 p.m. PT. This will be the first meeting ever between the pair and Webber's first ever qualification.
This marks back-to-back NAIA Tournament appearances for the Spirit, after winning the GSAC last year. In OUAZ's first NAIA Championships appearance last season, the team was unable to advance past pool play. They had a dominant 3-0 win over Saint Xavier, but then had a nail-biting 3-2 loss to Park (Mo.).
The Spirit will once again meet Park (Mo.), April 13, on the court at 2:00 p.m. PT for a rematch of last years NAIA Tournament meeting where the Pirates ended the Spirit's season. OUAZ is one of four Golden State Athletic Conference teams to earn a tournament spot, the most of any other NAIA conference. The other teams in the conference include The Master's, Vanguard, and Menlo.
The NAIA Network– the association's official video-streaming home – will broadcast all matches excluding the championship match live at the 2023 NAIA Men's Volleyball Championship in West Des Moines, Iowa. The video platform, powered by Presto allows users access to live video, statistics and social interaction on a number of devices, including mobile. Single-day passes can be purchased for $9.95 and a championship package is available at $29.95. The championship match includes all pool play and semifinal matches.
The championship match will be streamed on ESPN3.
