NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 24 Illinois volleyball team received an at-large bid in the 2019 NCAA Division I Championship and will be making its 26th appearance in program history and the third-straight under head coach Chris Tamas as the Illini travel to Provo, Utah, on the campus of BYU to face Utah in the first round of the tournament.  

The Illini (16-13, 11-9 B1G) will face the Utes (22-9, 14-6 PAC-12) at 5 p.m. CT in the first match on Friday (December 6) in the Smith Fieldhouse, followed by host and No. 14 seed BYU (25-4, 16-2 WCC) taking on New Mexico State (27-3, 16-0 WAC) at 8 p.m. CT. The winner of each match will advance to the second round on Saturday at 8 p.m. CT.  

Illinois is making its 10th postseason appearance in the last 12 seasons and is 44-25 (.638) all-time in postseason play. The Illini own a 4-1 record against Utah and are 2-0 in Provo, but fell in the last meeting in a 3-1 setback in 2002 in Salt Lake City.

The Big Ten led all conferences with seven teams selected from the league to compete in the championship tournament, with the seven selections marking the 27th time in as many years that at least six Big Ten teams have been selected to the tournament. Big Ten Champion Wisconsin earned the No. 4 overall seed, with No. 5 Nebraska, No. 7 Minnesota, No. 11 Penn State, No. 16 Purdue and Michigan joined the Illini in receiving at-large selections to the tournament.

Ticket information and broadcast details for this weekend's matches will be announced shortly.

Teams winning two matches this weekend will move on to regional play on December 13-14. The regional winners will advance to the National Semifinals and Championship Final on December 19 and 21 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The national semifinal matches will broadcast on ESPN and the championship match will broadcast on ESPN2.

For more Fighting Illini volleyball news, stay tuned to FightingIllini.com and follow @IlliniVBall on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook.