The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) volleyball team fell in the semifinals of their Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) tournament to boast an 18-10 record heading into Selection Day on Monday.

They felt their chances of making the NCAA Division II tournament seemed low, however at least half of their losses came at the hands of ranked opponents. Then, as teams in the NCAA Central Region were rattled off, the Bulldogs heard their names called.

“Honestly, I just sort of sat there with my mouth open just staring to see our name pop up on the screen. I just honestly couldn’t believe it. But I was also thrilled at the same time that the journey is not over yet, and we’re very excited to continue on,” Hope Schjenken said, a fifth year middle blocker at UMD.

“Certainly we knew we had had our hiccups along the way and hadn’t put ourselves in a great position. We knew getting to the semifinals of the conference tournament at least gave us an opportunity to be in the conversation. But some of those things are out of your control,” UMD head coach Jim Boos said.

UMD earned the seventh seed and will first battle second seeded Wayne State November 30. Game time is still TBD.

The bulldogs fell 3-0 to Wayne in their sole regular season meeting in September.