Alabama Volleyball Opens NCAA Tournament Play on Thursday

Alabama volleyball has qualified for its second-straight NCAA Tournament and will open play against the Samford Bulldogs on Thursday, Dec. 4 at 4:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. CT in Tallahassee, Fla.

Alabama (25-7) will face Southern Conference champion Samford (20-12) with the winner of that matchup squaring off against the winner of Florida State (28-2) and Jacksonville (19-14). The regional championship will be played on Friday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. ET.

The Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs have met 19 times in program history, with Alabama winning 18 of those meetings. The last meeting between the two teams was on Sept. 11, 2012 in Tuscaloosa as the Tide won, 3-1.

Alabama set a new single-season record for wins this season, securing its school-record 25th win in the regular season finale on Saturday, Nov. 29 against Tennessee. These are the first back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for Alabama since the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

Samford earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Southern Conference tournament, defeating top-seeded Furman in the championship match, 3-1. This will be the second NCAA Tournament appearance for the Bulldogs in program history, as they qualified for the 2012 NCAA Tournament where they fell to Cincinnati in the opening round of the Tallahassee Regional.