Dukes Will Face Colorado in First Round of NCAA Tournament

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Colonial Athletic Association champion James Madison volleyball will face Colorado inside the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas on Friday, Dec. 1 at 5:30 p.m. ET in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, the NCAA Selection committee announced Sunday during the Selection Show.

The Dukes earned a spot in No. 12 Waco Regional for the first and second rounds of the tournament. The winner between JMU versus Colorado will face the winner of No. 12 Baylor versus Miami (OH) during the second round of competition on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 9 p.m. ET.

The winning team from each of the 16 second rounds advances to the regional round of competition. Regional play is schedule for Dec. 8 and 9 while the 2017 National Championship semifinals and finals will be held in Kansas City on Dec. 14 and 16, respectively.

JMU is making its second consecutive and fourth overall appearance in the NCAA tournament since moving to Division I in 1986. Last year, the Dukes faced Coastal Carolina in the first round and dropped a five-set match at host North Carolina. The bid is the second under the helm of Head Coach Lauren Steinbrecher, who made four straight tournament appearances as a student-athlete at Georgia Tech.

This is the first meeting between the Dukes and the Buffaloes. Colorado, is making its 19^th trip to the NCAA tournament and finished the regular season with an overall record of 22-9 and finished tied for fifth in the Pac-12.

The Dukes claimed the CAA's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship after outlasting No. 6 Elon in a five set match before sweeping both No. 2 Towson and No. 1 Charleston, in the CAA Championship two weekends ago. The Championship victory was the fifth straight win for the Dukes and pushed their overall record to 23-5, the most wins by any JMU team since 1999.

James Madison is led by the CAA Championship's Most Outstanding Performer, Taylor Austin, who leads the Dukes in digs with 520 and ranks 11^th in the nation in digs per set (5.71), and CAA All-Championship Team members Bryn Recker and M'Kaela White, who lead the Dukes in kills (362) and blocks (159.0), respectively.

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