Ball State women's volleyball earns NCAA Tournament at-large bid

For the third time in four seasons, Ball State will compete in the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament. The Cardinals, who finished 24-8 and 15-3 in the Mid-American Conference, earned an at-large bid into the tournament Sunday.

Ball State will compete against No. 4 Marquette at 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The winner will play No. 5 Georgia Tech or Wright State Friday.

This is the 11th time Ball State will compete in the NCAA Tournament, including the third under head coach Kelli Miller Philips. The Cardinals finished as the regular season co-champions of the MAC and fell to Bowling Green in five sets in the MAC Championship. Bowling Green will play No. 6 Western Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky Thursday. This season marks the first time since 2016 in which the MAC will have two teams competing in the tournament.

This is the third time Ball State earned a bid as an at-large, the last two occurrences being in 2011 and 2000. Ball State finished the season No. 56 in the RPI rankings. It earned a bid over bubble teams Colorado State (No. 47), Texas State (No. 44) and UCLA (No. 62).

All-time, Ball State is 3-10 in the NCAA Tournament. Last season, the Cardinals defeated Michigan in the first round before falling to the No. 1 seed Louisville.

More:Ball State women's volleyball loses to Bowling Green in MAC Championship

Robby General covers Ball State and East Central Indiana high school sports for The Star Press. Contact him via email at rgeneral@gannett.com or on Twitter @rgeneraljr.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Ball State women's volleyball earns NCAA Tournament at-large bid