Kearney, Neb. – The second-ranked Nebraska-Kearney volleyball team is the top seed in the 2019 MIAA Tournament and will face Missouri Southern State Thursday, November 21, in Kansas City.

This is the first year the tournament is being held at the Hy-Vee Arena (formerly Kemper Arena). The winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament; that 64-team field will be announced on Monday, November 25, at 6:30 p.m. on www.ncaa.com. 

UNK (30-0) has won this event each of the past three seasons with all nine wins coming at the Health & Sports Center. The Lopers last MIAA Tourney setback came in the 2015 semifinals to Central Missouri when the event was hosted by Central Oklahoma.

Missouri Southern State (13-17) dropped both matches to UNK this year, falling in three sets in Joplin (-19, -25, -15) and in the H&S Center (-15, -17, -17) last Friday. The third battle with the Lions begins no earlier than 5 p.m. Thursday with the winner facing either Missouri Western State or Northwest Missouri State Friday at 5 p.m. 

All tournament matches are available to view via The MIAA Network with The River 93.1 FM providing a live radio broadcast each night. Finally a live stat link will be posted on the UNK volleyball schedule page when it becomes available.