Host Tournament Page I NCAA Bracket I NCAA Tournament Announcement

CASTINE--Maine Maritime Academy will play host Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Thursday to conclude the Cambridge, Mass., first round of the 2024 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship. The teams will play at 7 p.m. at the Rockwell Cage after three other opening day matches in this regional. The 64-team bracket begins with regional action at eight sites on Thursday and goes through Saturday. The final eight teams will battle for the championship from Dec. 4-7 at the Cregger Center in Salem, Virginia.

Tickets: Available online only at this link. The cost for a single session starts at $5 and for an all-sessions pass starts at $8. Children under 2 years are free.

Records: Maine Maritime is 18-10 overall (7-7 away, 2-2 neutral) and swept the North Atlantic Conference East Division regular-season (8-0) and NAC Tournament championships, earning an NCAA automatic bid...MIT is 31-1 on the season (18-1 home) and received an NCAA at-large berth after losing the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship to Smith College in five sets despite taking the conference regular-season crown (11-0).

Going Dancin': The Mariners have also made the NCAA Tournament in 2007-08-09-10-16-17-18-19-21-22 for a total of 11 appearances...MMA is playing at a regional based in Cambridge for the third time, joining 2007 (MIT) and 2021 (Susquehanna)...the program has met MIT in three previous NCAA matches: 2007 in Cambridge, 2017 in Providence, R.I., and 2022 in Medford, Mass....MMA is seeking its first-ever NCAA tournament victory.

MIT Regional Field: Joining Maine Maritime and the Engineers in Cambridge are Colby (24-3), LaVerne (23-5), Messiah (24-7), New York University (21-12), UMass-Dartmouth (23-6) and William Smith (22-6)

Series History: Maine Maritime trails MIT 4-0 all-time, including an earlier date at the MIT Invitational back on Sep. 7..the teams are meeting for the fourth time in the NCAA Tournament (2007-17-22-24)...the Mariners are 0-2 lifetime at MIT.

How They Got Here: In the NAC Tournament, top-seed Maine Maritime swept No. 4 UMaine-Presque Isle (25-10, 25-13, 25-9) and No. 3 Husson University (25-11, 25-17, 25-11) before capturing its 11th NAC championship in program history, and first since 2022, at West Division winner UNY-Cobleskill, 3-1...MIT defeated Emerson, 3-1, and swept Babson before the Smith loss in the NEWMAC Finals.

Tough Schedule: Four schools that MMA played during the season made the NCAA tournament field...the Mariners faced 10 opponents who recorded winning records, including five with 20-plus victories.

Mariners to Watch: Sophomore outside hitters Sydney Williams (.301, NAC 3rd), Ally Hadley and junior middle hitter Ila Smith pace the offense with 252, 201 and 198 kills, respectively...Williams is a four-time NAC player of the week, Smith twice and Hadley once...Smith ranks first in the NAC and fifth in NCAA Division III with a .413 attack percentage...Hadley also leads the conference with 65 service aces, which is good for 22nd in the nation...senior setter Katie Albritton averages 5.25 assists per set for third in the NAC...as a team, MMA is 32nd in Division III aces per set at 2.80.

Dig This: Freshman libero/defensive specialist Hannah Tate has received six NAC citations this fall, including four Rookie of the Week and two Defensive Player of the Week awards that led to her being tabbed the conference's rookie of the year and to the first team...Tate is third in the conference with 3.90 digs per set, and her 324 on the season ranks 12th in MMA history...senior defensive specialist Sydney Rich has totaled 20 digs in three postseason matches so far to raise her career total to 1,017, which lists fourth in MMA all-time annals.

Honors, Honors, Honors: Williams is the NAC Player of the Year, a 2023 NAC Rookie of the Year and two-time all-conference first team selection...Smith, an All-NAC Third Team pick as a freshman and the 2022 conference rookie of the year, has earned a spot on the first team in each of her last two seasons...Albritton, the 2021 conference ROY, is a three-time All-NAC choice including second team this fall...Hadley made second-team all-conference...senior Grace Jennings, who is having a career year that includes 103 kills, 48 aces (for 10th in the NAC), 47 digs, nine total blocks and 156.5 points in 88 sets played was tabbed to the NAC All-Sportsmanship Team...Albritton was named the NAC Tournament Most Valuable Player while Tate and Williams joined her on the all-tournament team.

Anchor Points: Maine Maritime is 15-5 in three-set matches, 0-3 in four and 2-2 in five...has won 15 of its last 18 outings...the Mariners reached the conference finals every season since 2007 (no championship held in the 2020 COVID year)...Albritton has 2,578 career assists which is second in school history...senior middle blocker Chloe Weeks surpassed 500 career kills during the first two rounds of the NAC Tournament and now has 511...Williams is 17 kills shy of 500 in her two-year, 160-set career...Smith owns three of the top-four single-season attack percentages in school history...MMA finished conference play unbeaten for the eighth-consecutive season at 8-0, winning 62 consecutive conference matches dating back to 2015...that is the 17th longest streak in Division III history and currently the top active in the nation... the Mariners are 35-20 all-time in the postseason.

Coach Heather Benson (South Carolina '05): A former assistant at Bryn Mawr College and Susquehanna University, Benson is at her second stop as a collegiate head coach. In her first season with the Mariners, she piloted the team to another NAC East first-place finish for the program.