For the first time in three seasons, the University of La Verne will be represented in the NCAA Volleyball Championship Tournament.

La Verne (21-5) received an at-large bid to the tournament when the field of entrants was announced by the NCAA on Monday.   The Leopards are the No. 5 seed in the Thousand Oaks, Calif., Regional and will meet No. 4 seed Hardin-Simmons (29-3) in the first round of regional play on Friday scheduled for a 5:30 pm start.

Regional competition will be held Friday, November 9 through Sunday, November 11 at Gilbert Arena on the campus of Cal Lutheran University.

The eight-team region also includes host No. 1 Cal Lutheran (27-4) and No. 2 seed Chapman (23-5) from the SCIAC along with No. 3 Puget Sound (19-5), No. 6 Colorado College (23-9), No. 7 Pacific Lutheran (20-5) and No. 8 Southwestern (20-15).

In other Friday matches, No. 2 Chapman plays No. 7 Pacific Lutheran. At 3:30 p.m. No. 3 Puget Sound will meet No. 6 Colorado College. The final match of the day will be between No. 1 host Cal Lutheran and No. 8 Southwestern at 8:00 p.m.

The winners of the Chapman-Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound-Colorado College matches will play on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 3:00 p.m., followed by the winners of the La Verne-Hardin-Simmons and Cal Lutheran-Southwestern matches at 6:00 p.m.

On Sunday, Nov. 11, the two remaining teams will play in the regional final at 12:00 p.m.

The West Region champion will advance to Holland, Mich. to play to for the final eight teams leading to the NCAA Championship Nov. 15-17. 

The Leopards earn a bid to the NCAAs for the first time since the 2009 season when the squad reached the West Region Final.  That appearance capped a string of 10 straight trips to the NCAA Tournament. 

In that span, La Verne captured an NCAA title in 2001 and were NCAA runners up in 2008.  The Leopards also reached the NCAA semifinals three straight years in 2003, 2004 and 2005.