WATERBURY, Conn. -- The best team during the regular season in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference is going dancing as Post University Women's Volleyball earned an at-large bid into the 2025 Division II NCAA Tournament, being tabbed the fifth seed, and making their first appearance since the 2016 season, and fourth in program history, as announced by the NCAA on Monday night.

Under Head Coach Tiffany Verni in her fourth season at the helm, the Eagles posted a 24-4 record in the regular season with a 13-1 record in conference play, which earned them the top seed overall in this past week's CACC Tournament. That one regular-season conference loss came against CACC Tournament Runner-Up Holy Family University, which defeated Post in the CACC Semifinals on Saturday afternoon in five sets, 3-2. In all, five players from the Eagles were named to the CACC All-Conference teams, led by graduate outside hitter Kristina Peric, who was only the second CACC Player of the Year from Post in addition to her First Team honor, while senior libero Alyssa Groves was CACC Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, as well as First Team recipient. 

Additionally, graduate setter Alice DiFrancesco was named CACC All-Conference Second Team, while both junior middle blocker Nuri Shahid-Stevenson and sophomore middle blocker Alani Duncan were named to the CACC All-Conference Third Team. Both Nuri Shahid-Stevenson and Peric were also named to the CACC All-Tournament Team, as both put up semifinal performances that landed them in the conference's single-game tournament record books, with Peric tying the single-game record in kills with 35, while Nuri Shahid-Stevenson's 11 total blocks landed her third all-time for a single tournament game. 

Now entering their fourth NCAA Tournament, Post will look to make history by winning an NCAA Tournament match when they face fourth-seeded American International College (AIC) on December 4th at a time to be determined on the campus of Bentley University, which is the East Region's top seed and host for the three-day NCAA Regional running from December 4th to December 6th. In their previous three appearances spanning from 2014-16, the Eagles were bounced in the First Round, once each by the University of Bridgeport and Adelphi University in straight sets, while falling in five sets to Daemen University. 

Of the eight teams to qualify in the East Region, Post took on all of them except for sixth-seeded Molloy University, going 4-4 against them with two wins against CACC Champion eighth-seeded Bridgeport and wins against both second-seeded Adelphi University and third-seeded Mercy University. The four losses came in the form of two losses to seventh-seeded Holy Family, one against top-seeded Bentley, and one against four-seeded AIC, which the Eagles play next week.

As the bracket sits, the winner of Post-AIC will face either Bridgeport or Bentley, while the lower half of the bracket sees Adelphi face Holy Family and Mercy take on Molloy for a right to go to the Second Round. In their regular-season matchup, the Eagles had a chance to win sets two and four against the Yellow Jackets, which would have helped them secure the win, but in set two, AIC overcame set point, and then three times in set four overcame match point, eventually winning in set five, 15-11. 

While both Bridgeport matches were four-set wins for the Eagles, they were close affairs that saw five of the sets decided by three points or less, including all three set wins for Post in the most recent 3-1 win at home. The road loss to Bentley in four sets, 3-1, saw all four sets decided by five points or less, including three of them being determined by three points or less.

More information on game times and the NCAA Regional will be available at https://bentleyfalcons.com/ in the coming days.