CASPER, WY -The four-time Jayhawk West and four-time Region VI Champion Hutchinson Community College volleyball team will play Iowa Western in the opening round of the 2015 NJCAA Division I Volleyball Tournament.

The national seedings, pairings and times were releases on Thursday by the NJCAA.

The 31-8 Blue Dragons were made the No. 13 seed this season despite eight teams in the field having fewer victories and that Hutchinson went 5-5 against nationally ranked competition in 2015.

The Blue Dragons and fourth-seeded Reivers will play in the final pairing of opening-round matches at 3p.m. MT (4 p.m. in Hutchinson) on Thursday, Nov. 19 at the Casper Events Center in Casper, Wyo. Iowa Western will enter the match with a 39-7 record.  Live Web TV

Hutchinson and Iowa Western didn’t play each other in 2015, but were originally scheduled to at the Blue Dragon Volleyball Classic in September. When Marshalltown dropped out of the Classic late, Blue Dragon head coach Patrick hall had to reshuffle the schedule and his team’s meeting with the Reivers had to be scratched.

The Hutchinson/Iowa Western winner will play again on opening day of the tournament, meets the 5/12  Hillsborough/Wallace State winner at 7:30 MT (8:30 Hutchinson time) in the quarterfinals. The losers of those two matches at Noon (1 p.m. Hutchinson time) in a consolation match on Friday, Oct. 20.

The Blue Dragons are making their ninth national tournament appearance after defeating Pratt in four sets and sweeping Seward County in the Region VI Tournament semifinals and finals on Sunday at the Sports Arena. The Dragons are making their fourth-straight appearance in the national tournament.

The No. 13 seed is the sixth nationals appearance in which Hutchinson will be the higher seed in the opening round. During its current run of four-straight nationals berths, HCC was seeded No. 10 in 2012, No. 14 in 2014, No. 15 last season and No. 13 this season.

The Blue Dragons are 1-4 in opening-round matches as a higher seed, but the one victory is arguably the program’s biggest win in its history.

Hutchinson was seeded 12th entering the 2006 national tournament in West Plains, Mo., and played defending national champion and fifth-seed Miami Dade. The Blue Dragons won a five-set thriller with the Sharks 30-23, 20-20, 29-31, 21-30, 18-16.  That match was also

HCC’s highest national seed was No. 2 seed in 2004. HCC was the No. 5 seed in 2005, No. 12 seed in both 2006 and 2008 and No. 8 seed in 2009.

The Blue Dragons have faced five teams in the national field of 16 with the Dragons posting a 2-5 record against those teams. HCC owns wins over North Idaho College and Yavapai College. HCC went 0-3 against West Plains, but two of those three were very close, including a five-set battle at the Sports Arena in September. Wallace State defeated Hutch in four sets in West Plains in October. The only blowout loss in those matches came to tournament stop seed College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls in early September.

College of Southern Idaho, Western Nebraska, Northwest College and Iowa Western are the top four national seeds.

All matches of the 2014 NJCAA Division I Volleyball Championships will be videotreamed live by NJCAATV. A link to all Hutchinson streams will be available on BlueDragonSports.com on match day.

(HCC Sports Information)

NJCAA DIVISION I VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT OPENING-ROUND MATCHUPS
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Casper Events Center – Casper, Wyo.
All times MST
9 a.m. – No. 14 Hill College (31-10) vs. No. 3 Northwest College (31-4)
9 a.m. – No. 6 Polk State College (22-10) vs. No. 11 San Jacinto-Central (28-13)
11 a.m. – No. 2 Western Nebraska (39-4)  vs. No. 15 Yavapai College (22-6)
11 a.m. – No. 7 Missouri State University-West Plains (25-0) vs. No. 10 North Idaho College (11-12)
1 p.m. – No. 1 College of Southern Idaho (31-3) vs. No. 16 Frank Phillips College (36-4)
1 p.m. – No. 8 Central Florida (26-12)  vs. No. 9 Blinn College (29-10)
3 p.m. – No. 4 Iowa Western (39-7) vs. No. 13 Hutchinson (31-8)
3 p.m. – No. 5 Hillsborough (31-5) vs. No. 12 Wallace State (39-6)

If Hutchinson wins opening round – next match would be Thursday, Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
If Hutchinson loses opening round – next match would be Friday, Nov. 20 at Noon

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