2025 NCAA Volleyball Tournament Preview

By Will DeBoer

11/19/2025 11:00:00 AM

The Rundown

Ready to fill its dance card for an unprecedented fourth straight year, the Salisbury University volleyball team is shipping up to Boston for the 2025 NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament. The Sea Gulls will open the bracket against the Colorado College Tigers in the first round on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. inside the Rockwell Cage on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

The #D3vb bracket is out! ???? ??

?? https://t.co/QXUBamVCUr #WhyD3 pic.twitter.com/dWjBtjstyy
— NCAA Division III (@NCAADIII) November 17, 2025

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Regional Central

How We Got Here
How They Got Here
Series History
What's At Stake

Salisbury went 28-6 under first-year head coach Kendall Jacobsen and earned one of 21 at-large bids into the NCAA Tournament
- SU was ranked 17th in the season's final NCAA Power Index (NPI), eighth-best among teams that received at-large berths.
The top-seeded Sea Gulls advanced to the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) Tournament finals for the fifth straight year. SU defeated fourth-seeded Mary Washington 3-0 in the semifinals before dropping a 3-0 decision to second-seeded Christopher Newport in the championship.
- CNU earned the league's automatic bid and was the only other C2C school to make the 64-team field.
Salisbury played 13 of its 34 matches this season against 10 teams that made the NCAA Tournament, going 8-5.
- The Sea Gulls defeated Virginia Wesleyan, Tufts, Lynchburg, CNU, Cortland, Stevenson, Marymount (Va.), and St. Mary's (Md.)
- SU suffered defeats against UW-Oshkosh, Tufts, CNU (x2), and Kean.

Colorado College earned the automatic bid out of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC). The Tigers went 23-7 in the regular season and 12-4 in league play, securing the five-seed in the SCAC Tournament and upsetting Schreiner in five sets to win the league title. CC is riding a 10-game winning streak entering the national tournament.
The Tigers are playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021 and 31st time in program history.
CC played two games against teams that made the national field, losing to UW-Eau Claire and East Texas Baptist.
The Tigers rank top-50 nationally in the following statistical categories:
- 16th in Assists (1,379)
- 17th in A/S (12.31)
- 29th in Kills (1,444)
- 40th in Kills Per Set (12.89)
- 42nd in Digs (1,911)
- 47th in Hitting Percentage (.223)
CC placed a league-high five players on the All-SCAC Teams:
- S Camden Goodman (1st Team, SCAC Co-Setter of the Year)
- OH Carolyn Dormady (1st Team)
- OH Camille Sherrill (1st Team)
- MB Brooke Brilliant (1st Team)
- DS/L Meghan Gannon (2nd Team)
Fifth-year head coach Sharon Dingman carries an impressive pedigree over her 34-year head coaching career. She owns a 654-436 career record and picked up her 600th career win with the Tigers in 2023. Before CC, Dingman served successful stints at the University of Chicago, Iowa, Illinois State, Butler, and Auburn. In six seasons leading UChicago (2014-19), she led the Maroons to the NCAA Tournament five times, including the Sweet 16 in 2019.

The Sea Gulls and Tigers are meeting on the volleyball court for the first time in their programs' histories.
Salisbury bused 435 miles to get to MIT, while Colorado College - based in Colorado Springs - is one of three teams in the Cambridge Regional, along with Trinity (Texas) and Pacific Lutheran, that flew into Boston for the tournament.
Salisbury and Colorado College often square off against each other on the lacrosse field, including several matchups in NCAA Tournament play.
- SU Men's Lacrosse is 6-0 all-time against the Tigers, including an 18-10 victory in Salisbury in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
- Sea Gull Women's Lacrosse carries a 6-1 all-time record against CC, most recently winning 18-8 in Salisbury in the third round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

The winner of the Salisbury-Colorado College matchup will move on to face either Trinity (Texas) or Manhattanville, who will play on Thursday at 2 p.m. That second-round Regional Semifinal contest is set to begin on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
The winner of the second-round matchup will face either MIT, Pacific Lutheran, Williams, or Franklin & Marshall in the regional finals on Saturday at 5 p.m.
The eight regional champions will advance to the NCAA Championship, beginning with the national quarterfinals on Wednesday, Dec. 3, in Bloomington, Ill.

The 2025 Sea Gulls

#2 Julie Altieri | All-C2C First Team, C2C All-Tournament Team

#8 Gwen Eustace | All-C2C First Team, C2C All-Tournament Team

#20 Kiley McTaggart | All-C2C First Team

#15 Amanda Meschi | 2.08 K/S

#17 Sophia Tapia | All-C2C Second Team

#9 Elizabeth Villegas | All-C2C Second Team

Salisbury has made the NCAA Tournament for a program-record fourth straight year and 13th time in program history. The Sea Gulls are 9-12 all-time in the national tournament.
The Sea Gulls are 2-3 in national bracket play in the past three seasons.
In 2022, SU swept Endicott in the first round and took national semifinalist NYU to five sets in round two.
In 2023, SU pulled off a five-set reverse sweep of Williams in round one before making a second-round exit against semifinalist Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
In 2024, SU dropped a first-round matchup to Middlebury, 3-1.
Salisbury has advanced past the second round twice, making the regional finals (third round) in 2009 and advancing to the national quarterfinals (fourth round) in 2012.
At 28-6, Salisbury has won 20 matches for a fourth consecutive season and secured their most victories in one campaign since 2013. The Sea Gulls have won 20 or more matches 31 times in the 48-year history of the program.
The Sea Gulls finished the regular season on a 21-3 clip since Sept. 13 and put together a 13-match winning streak from Oct. 11 through Nov. 14, one shy of matching a 14-gamer the team went on in 2024.
Senior middle blocker Gwen Eustace was the single most dangerous attacker in collegiate volleyball this season. Her .510 hitting percentage is tops across all three NCAA divisions; the next-closest swing rate belongs to Bella Limback of Division II Washburn (.469), while second place in Division III belongs to Wentworth’s Riley Schoonmaker (.443). Eustace also holds top-50 national rankings in total blocks (123), points (492), and kills (403).
Junior setter Julie Altieri has provided a steady hand for her attackers throughout her career. She is just the fourth Salisbury setter to record multiple thousand-assist seasons, following up 1,048 helpers last year with 1,004 through regular season and conference play. Altieri ranks fourth in Sea Gull history with 2,746 assists and could become the fourth-ever SU setter to reach 3,000 assists next season.
Junior right side Kiley McTaggart continued building on her reputation as one of the region's go-to attackers, slotting top-five in the C2C in attacks per set (8.90), kills per set (3.09), points (447.5), points per set (3.86), kills (358), and blocks (81).
Sophomore middle blocker Sophia Tapia enjoyed a breakout season en route to All-C2C honors, nearly matching Eustace's blocking prowess with 120 total stuffs and 0.98 blocks per set, both of which ranked top-three in the conference.
Junior defensive specialist Elizabeth Villegas ascended into the libero jersey midseason and became an All-C2C honoree with her steady hand on the backline. Despite only half a season as libero, the transfer from Division II Millersville ranked second in the conference in total digs (381) and top-six in digs per set (3.10).
Team - 6th in blocks (267), 8th in hitting percentage (.258), 12th in kills (1,530), 13th in assists (1,402), 20th in B/S (2.17), 51st in service aces (264), 70th in total attacks (3,972), 71st in K/S (12.44), 76th in A/S (11.40), 81st in digs (1,799), 92nd in opp. hitting percentage (.135)
Julie Altieri - 31st in assists (1,004), 46th in A/S (9.21)
Gwen Eustace - 1st in hitting percentage (.510), 9th in total blocks (123), 28th in points (492), 42nd in kills (403), 56th in B/S (1.01), 79th in PT/S (4.03)
Kiley McTaggart - 50th in points (447.5), 78th in kills (358), 79th in attacks (1,032), 110th in PT/S (3.86)
Sophia Tapia - 16th in blocks (120), 69th in B/S (0.98), 129th in hitting percentage (.300)
Elizabeth Villegas - 211th in digs (381)

We're so excited to be going back to the NCAA Tournament. This group has worked so hard for this, and the way they show up for each other every day is what makes this team special. I'm just really proud of them and grateful that we get to keep playing together.

Kendall Jacobsen, Sea Gull Head Volleyball Coach

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The Rundown

The 2025 Sea Gulls

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