Navarro Volleyball is on The Last Train to Clarksville.
Er,…actually, the 13th ranked Bulldogs got tickets for the next-to-last car of the train. The 14th ranked Trinity Valley Cardinals – a team NC beat three times this season – got the tickets in the caboose.
The Region XIV rivals claimed the final two ar-large berths Wednesday for the NJCAA Division I Tournament that begins November 20 at Austin Peay State University's Dunn Center in Clarksville, TN.
It's not how about how they get there, but that they made it there.
Region XIV Tournament Runner-up Navarro (21-11) makes its fifth national tournament appearance in the last seven years.
In their opening-round match, coach Dylan Butler's 11th-seeded Bulldogs face Plains District Champion Barton, (31-2), a six-seed that finished the regular season ranked No. 7 nationally. The Cougars, making their 22nd appearance at nationals, bring an eight-match win streak into the event.
The Navarro-Barton opener pairs teams that met August 24 in the third natch of the season at The Garden City Broncbuster Invitational. The Cougars swept NC (25-8, 25-15, 25-18) three months ago.
Winner of the Navarro-Barton match will face the winner of rhe 3-14 matchup between NMMI and Indian Hills.
Other Texas junior college openers include (12) TVCC and (5) Northeastern; (4) Mid-South Champion Blinn and (13) Colby (7) Odessa and (10) Missouri State-West Plains; and (9) Weatherford and (8) Utah State-Eastern.
The tournament's top four seeds are (1) two-time defending champion Florida SouthWestern, (2) two-time defending runner-up Miami Dade, (3) coach Shelby Fortchner's NMMI Broncos, and (4) 15-time qualifier Blinn.
The four-at large selections were Weatherford, Colby, Navarro and TVCC.
Here's the opening-round schedule:
(1) Florida Southwestern v. (16) Eastern Wyoming
(8) Utah State-Eastern v. (9) Weatherford
(4) Blinn v. (13) Colby
(5) Northeastern v (12) TVCC
(2) Miami Dade v (15) Eastern Arizona
(7) Odessa v. (10) Missouri State-West Plains
(3) NMMI v (14) Indian Hills
(6) Barton v (11) Navarro
