INDIANAPOLIS– The NCAA Office released the teams and the draw for the NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament at 12:30 today. Eastern University Volleyball will play Farmingdale State University at Stevens Tech in Hoboken, N.J. in the opening round.

Conventional wisdom would have had the No. 12 Eagles staying with their Mid-Atlantic Region counterparts at the Regional hosted by the University of Mary Washington. When all the teams were announced, the Eagles were not there.

Eastern, instead, goes to the north and east. The Eagles, making their ninth-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, have won 14-straight first-round matches.

At 3 PM on  Friday, the Eagles will play a Farmingdale State team that earned a bid to the tournament by winning the Skyline Conference. The Rams  (19-7) have not played a ranked team this season. The winner of that contest will take on the winner of Ramapo and Hunter. Those two teams are playing for the fourth time this year. Ramapo received an at-large out of the NJAC and has beaten Hunter in each of the three previous engagements.

Stevens (31-5) is on the other side and will play Regis in the first round. That winner will take on the winner of the Clark and Montclair State match. Montclair State (26-8) won the NJAC and Clark (23-8) received an at-large bid after falling in the NEWMAC Championship match to MIT.

The winner of the Regional tournament will advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals in Oshkosh, Wis.