Bears Advance to NIVC Quarterfinals

Saturday, December 7

Statesboro, Ga.

2 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

27-7,14-2Big Sky

Georgia Southern

22-7,10-4Sun Belt

Northern Colo.

Ga. Southern

12/7/2024 10:38:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Final Match Book (PDF)

By: Michael High, Assistant Athletics Director for Strategic Communications

STATESBORO, Ga. – Syd Cole quarterbacked Northern Colorado to the NIVC quarterfinals with a five-set (25-18, 18-25, 26-24, 14-25, 15-10) victory over Georgia Southern at Hanner Fieldhouse Saturday.

The Bears improved to 27-7, setting the school's NCAA Division I record for most wins in a single season. Georgia Southern lost for the first time on its home floor this season, ending the campaign at

Cole fell three kills shy of a triple-double. She dished out 50 assists to five different Bear attackers, with 21 digs, seven kills and one service ace.

UNC hit .363 in the three wins while holding the Eagles to .270. In the Bears two losses, Georgia Southern outhit UNC .296-.137 in the second and fourth sets.

The Bears led wire-to-wire in the opening game by as many as five. With the match tied at one game apiece and facing two set points, UNC rattled off four straight points to grab a 2-1 advantage with an extra-point victory.

In the final game, UNC evened the match for the sixth tie at 8-8. A Brynn Reines' kill nudged the Bears ahead for the final lead change of the match. They upped the advantage to 12-8 on an attack error by the Eagles and back-to-back kills by Isabel Bennett.

Georgia Southern sliced the deficit in half with a pair of kills, Gabi Placide tallied two successful attempts, sandwiched around an Eagles' error to clinch the victory.

Placide netted a match-high of 19 kills, eight digs and two blocks. Maddie Davies recorded 13 kills and one block. Reines inked a double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs, while Bennett notched 11 kills. Donning the libero jersey, Sam Steele dug out 16 attacks, with seven assists and Bella LePore totaled 14 digs.

Since moving to the NCAA Division I, UNC won two matches for the first time in a single postseason. The Bears face Arkansas State, the third-straight Sun Belt Conference foe, in the quarterfinals. UNC and the Red Wolves meet in Tucson, Arizona, Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 3 p.m. Arizona hosts the quarterfinals and semifinals, with the Wildcats and Wyoming facing off after the Bears match.

Your support has helped us achieve an incredible milestone: 27 wins, a new record in the DI era! Help Volleyball commemorate this achievement by giving $27, $270 or $2,700 in honor of their 27 wins: https://www.give2unc.org/bearattackersclub.

ABOUT TRIPLE CROWN SPORTS
Based in Fort Collins, CO., Triple Crown Sports has been producing events in youth athletics and the college ranks for 40 years. TCS runs both the preseason and postseason NCAA DI WNIT basketball events and produces the men's and women's Cancun Challenge tournaments in November. In addition, TCS runs the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge, the only NCAA DI softball event played outside of the United States and the NISC, a "WNIT" model for DI softball. Triple Crown also operates one of the top club volleyball events in the country, the TC Volleyball NIT, which hosts 600 of the top clubs in the country and is played at the Kansas City Convention Center in Kansas City, Mo.

ABOUT THE NIVC
Postseason NIVC Tournament Overview
The National Invitational Volleyball Championship will be an annual tournament involving 32 of the nation's top women's Division I Volleyball teams. All games, including the semifinals and championship, are hosted by participating schools. Every round is a single elimination.

Format
The Postseason NIVC features 16 first-round games (potential play in games in each quad based on overall team numbers), followed by 8 second-round games, 4 third-round games, two semifinal games, and the championship. The championship game will be streamed by the host school. The event offers 32 automatic berths, one to each established conference, and 8 to 16 at-large berths. Not all conferences will have an AQ therefore; we will offer additional at-large berths to teams that meet the criteria to receive an invitation to the tournament. The NIVC field and bracket are announced late on the evening of the NCAA Tournament selections.

2024 Postseason NIVC
The tournament is a single-elimination event with all games played at sites of host schools. The NIVC is committed to offering deserved opportunities to women's Volleyball programs, and the Postseason NIVC featured a full 32-team bracket in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. The tournament was not held in 2020 due to COVID-19. The NIVC offers teams an opportunity to get in more practice, to experience playoff-atmosphere games, to play in front of passionate fans and to use their NIVC success as a springboard to the next season.