Cougars sweep Rio Grande, advance to NAIA nationals in Sioux City

The Mount Vernon Nazarene University women's volleyball team is heading to Iowa.

The Cougars swept the University of Rio Grande in the opening round of the NAIA Women's Volleyball National Tournament on Nov. 22 at Ariel Arena, 25-13, 25-19, 25-22. The win sends the Cougars (26-8) to Sioux City, Iowa, where pool play will be held Dec. 3-9.

Evelyn Brown had 11 kills and hit an impressive .647 in the match against Rio Grande. The freshman had four blocks. Morgan Schlabach also had 11 kills. Schlabach added 10 digs and three blocks. Reagan Nuss had 33 assists, five digs, and two kills. Jaelyn Tang had 22 digs in the sweep.

The NAIA announced its Pool Play assignments for the 2025 NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship in Sioux City, Iowa on Sunday, Nov. 23.

After defeating the University of Rio Grande, MVNU will be in Pool F. The 11th seeded Lady Cougars share the pool with sixth-seeded Providence (Mont.) and 19th seeded College of Idaho.

Providence is from the Frontier Conference and was the regular season and tournament champion. The Argos finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the NAIA Women's Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 Poll. Providence currently holds a record of 32-2 after defeating Northwest University (Wash.) in the NAIA Opening Round.

The College of Idaho was an At-Large selection for the National Tournament and hails from the Cascade Conference. The Yotes currently have a 19-10 record and recently swept Bethel College (KS) to make it to the final site of the national tournament. The College of Idaho finished the regular season ranked 16th in the nation in the final coaches' poll.

MVNU begins pool play on Dec. 4 at 4:30 p.m. (Central Time) against the Yotes at the Tyson Events Center. The Lady Cougars then take on the Argos on Dec. 5 against Providence, with first serve coming at 3:30 p.m CT. Tie breaks (if necessary) will take place on Dec. 5 following the conclusion of all the pool play matches.