(Omaha, NE) – The NCAA announced its 64 team field for the 2015 NCAA Division 1 Volleyball tournament last night and Indian Country will once again be well represented with the players below who will be playing or appearing with their respective teams. The semi-final and final championship games will be hosted in Omaha, Nebraska and will be played at the Century Link Center and December 17th and 19th respectively.
Here are the participants:
Tiana Dockery, Navajo, OH – Kansas
Tiana will finish her volleyball career at Kansas with a few accolades to note, she will be the all-time winningest Jayhawk volleyball player and she will be the first volleyball player in Kansas history to play in 4 straight NCAA tournaments. Dockery and the Jayhawks will host the first two rounds in Lawrence, Kansas on December 3rd & 4th. KU’s first round match against Furman is scheduled for Thursday at 6:30 PM.
Lauren Shad, Cheyenne River Sioux, MB/MH – University of San Diego
Lauren is a junior this season for the USD Toreros. She finished 4th on the team in Kills this season and 1st on the team in Blocks and Block assists as well. Lauren has played in all 108 games this season for the Toreros and is a big part of the teams success this season. The Toreros will travel to the University of Southern California to play their first two rounds and will face the Big Sky Conference Champions the NAU Lumberjacks who have a Native American athlete as well.
Bradley Nash, Navajo, OH – New Mexico State University
Bradley is a senior for the Western Athletic Conference regular and tournament champions, the NMSU Aggies who hail from Lac Cruces, New Mexico. Nash will close out her collegiate career as well in the NCAA tournament. Nash is 4th in Kills this season for the Aggies and 3rd on the team for blocking. The NMSU Aggies will face #8 seed Stanford in their first round match.
Alicia Ostrander, Oglala-Lakota, OH – Nebraska
Alicia is a senior for the Huskers who are the #4 overall seed. Alicia was an integral part of the Husker offense last season but as captain for the Huskers has taken a reduced role to allow younger talent to be a bigger part of the Huskers offense. Alicia, a former walk-on, has played as needed when the Huskers struggle on offense or starters needing rest this season. Immediately following the NCAA volleyball tournament Ostrander will join the Huskers basketball team who have already begun their season. The Huskers will host Harvard in the first round of play
Tamia Dockery, Navajo, Setter – Howard University
Tamia is a freshman setter for the Howard University Bison and sister of Tiana Dockery (Kansas). The Bison were the MEAC conference champions this season and will play Penn State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Dockery let the team in assists this season with 564 and was 3rd on the team in digs as well.
Ohiyah Shirley, Sicangu Lakota/Navajo, OH – Northern Arizona University
Ohiyah is a redshirt freshman for the NAU Lumberjacks and DNP this season on a senior filled roster but will look to be a big contributor next season. Although she will no be playing, her team is scheduled to play the University of San Diego in the first round of play
These ladies will represent their teams and tribes as well as they look to advance to the championships. This is a listing of athletes that we are aware of competing in the NCAA tournament, if there are others we will update this list with that information as it is provided to us.