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2022 NCAA Volleyball Tournament Preview

11/9/2022 11:30:00 AM

The Rundown

After punching its first ticket to the big dance in nine years, the Salisbury University volleyball team is shipping up to Middletown, Conn., for the 2022 NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament. The Sea Gulls will battle the Endicott Gulls in the first round on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. inside Silloway Gymnasium on the campus of Wesleyan University.

The field is set for the #d3vb Championship ??

?? https://t.co/xyORVTCXtu pic.twitter.com/rvUJJAT40x
— NCAA Division III (@NCAADIII) November 7, 2022

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How We Got Here
How They Got Here
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Salisbury went 20-8 under first-year head coach Nikki Binetti and earned one of 19 Pool C at-large bids into the NCAA Tournament.
The fourth-seeded Sea Gulls advanced to the finals of the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) Tournament. SU swept both fifth-seeded Mount Mary and top-seeded UC Santa Cruz in the first round and semifinals, respectively, before falling to second-seeded Mary Washington in four sets in the championship match.
SU was one of four C2C schools that made the field of 64, joining Christopher Newport, Mary Washington and UC Santa Cruz.
The Sea Gulls played 14 matches against nine teams that earned NCAA Tournament bids, going 6-8. All eight of Salisbury's losses in 2022 have come at the hands of teams that qualified for the national tournament.

Endicott College went 22-8 and 8-1 in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play. The Gulls swept Nichols, Western New England and Gordon on the way to third straight CCC Tournament championship.
The Gulls are playing in their third straight NCAA Tournament and ninth in program history, all coming under 23rd-year head coach Tim Byram.
EC faced six teams that made it into the field, going 3-3. The Gulls picked up victories over MIT, Keene State and Babson, while losing to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Hope and Wesleyan (Conn.).
The Gulls are led by four-time CCC Player of the Week Amanda Gilbert, who led the conference in kills (369) and kills per set (3.69) while ranking sixth in hitting percentage (.281). The graduate outside hitter is a three-time All-CCC selection and was an AVCA All-America honorable mention in 2021.
Sophomore Emma Ruel is a four-time CCC Libero of the Week; her 333 digs and 3.74 digs per set each rank fifth in the conference. Freshman right side hitter Sophie Breitenbach was named CCC Rookie of the Week during the Gulls' league tournament run after hitting over .400 in all three matches.

This is the first-ever meeting in volleyball between the Sea Gulls and Gulls, who are based out of the Boston suburb of Beverly, Mass.
The Gulls will travel 139 miles from Beverly to Middletown, compared to the Sea Gulls' 327-mile odyssey.

The winner of the Salisbury-Endicott matchup will move on to face either sixth-ranked NYU or Westfield State, who will play on Thursday at 3 p.m. That second-round contest is set to begin on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
The winner of the second-round matchup will face either 13th-ranked Wesleyan, Eastern Nazarene, Stevenson or Williams in the Regional Finals on Saturday at 5 p.m.
The eight regional champions will advance to the NCAA Championship beginning on Wednesday, Nov. 16, in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Angelina Casserly & Delaney Madsen, 10-13-22

The 2022 Sea Gulls

#2 Amanda Chew - First-Team All-C2C

#7 Grace Rail - C2C Defensive Player of the Year, First-Team All-C2C

#20 Jenna Feinauer - Second-Team All-C2C

Salisbury has made the NCAA Tournament for the 10th time in program history and first since 2013. The Sea Gulls are 7-9 all-time in the national tournament.
The Sea Gulls' deepest tournament run came in 2012 during their final season under head coach Margie Knight. That year SU advanced to the national quarterfinals, ousting Mount Saint Mary (N.Y.), Richard Stockton and Eastern before falling to Elmhurst in the Elite Eight.
At 20-8, Salisbury has won 20 matches in a season for the first time since going 20-8 in 2016. The Sea Gulls have won 20 or more matches 28 times in the 45-year history of the program.
The Sea Gulls boast three winning streaks of five matches or more, including six- and seven-gamers in September as part of a 13-1 start.
Senior outside hitter Amanda Chew earned First-Team All-C2C for the second time in her career after leading the league in kills (383) and kills per set (3.79) while also ranking second in points (420.0), fifth in digs (381) and digs per set (3.77) and 10th in hitting percentage (.230). Chew's 1,158 career kills are good for eighth in SU program history.
Junior libero Grace Rail picked up C2C Defensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-C2C honors by pacing the conference in digs (543) and digs per set (5.43).
Both Chew and Rail were named to the C2C All-Tournament Team.
Senior middle blocker Jenna Feinauer took home Second-Team All-C2C accolades after finishing second in the league in blocks per set (0.99) and fourth in total blocks (84). She currently ranks ninth in program history with 276 total blocks.
Salisbury boasts national top-100 rankings in the following 11 statistical categories:
Opposing Hitting Percentage - .118 (40th)
Attacks Per Set - 37.94 (40th)
Digs Per Set - 18.02 (40th)
Kills Per Set - 12.48 (54th)
Total Digs - 1,856 (54th)
Blocks Per Set - 1.83 (64th)
Total Attacks - 3,908 (64th)
Total Blocks - 188.0 (69th)
Total Kills - 1,285 (71st)
Assists Per Set - 11.30 (73rd)
Total Assists - 1,164 (81st)
Chew carries national rankings in seven categories, including total attacks (1,111, 33rd), attacks per set (11.00, 34th), total kills (383, 37th), kills per set (3.79, 39th), total points (420.0, 59th), points per set (4.16, 69th) and total digs (381, 221st).
Rail slots in nationally in both digs per set (5.43, 27th) and total digs (543, 31st).
Feinauer ranks 27th nationally in blocks per set (0.99) and 240th in hitting percentage (.265).

We are beyond excited to be headed back to the NCAA Tournament. This is a goal we set for ourselves early in preseason, so to see it come to fruition is very special for us. I am so proud of this team and their resiliency, and I am looking forward to see what we can do in the NCAA Tournament. Our team loves to do the Cotton-Eyed Joe so it's only fitting that we made it to the Big Dance!

Nikki Binetti, Sea Gull Head Volleyball Coach

Jenna Feinauer, Jackie Mitchell & Brooke Young, 10-13-22

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The Rundown

The 2022 Sea Gulls

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