INDIANAPOLIS – Hours removed from winning the program's first conference championship in 29 years earlier in the day, the UNC Pembroke volleyball team secured the first NCAA Tournament berth in the 49-season history of the program on Sunday evening when the Braves officially earned an invite to the sport's biggest stage.
 
The seventh-seeded Braves (21-13) will get a rematch and battle second-seeded Augusta (21-7) on Friday in the opening round of action inside Wingate's Cuddy Arena. Opening day action will also see top-seeded and 25^th-ranked Wingate (29-2) going head-to-head with eighth-seeded USC Aiken (19-13) and third-seeded Carson-Newman (27-5) taking on sixth-seeded Flagler (18-9). Fourth-seeded Anderson (21-7) will go head-to-head with fifth-seeded Lander (20-9) in the final match of the opening round.
 
Ticket information and game times for the 2022 NCAA Southeast Regional will be announced on Monday.
 
Friday's first-round matchup will mark UNCP's first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. The Braves raked in the program's third conference title on Sunday with a 3-1 victory over Emmanuel in the Conference Carolinas Tournament championship game. The Black & Gold captured their first league crown in 1991 as a member of the then-Carolinas Conference, and also staked claim to the 1993 Peach Belt Conference regular season title as well.
 
Augusta, who is coming off of a 2021 season that saw it advance all the way to  the Elite 8,  dropped a 3-1 decision to USC Aiken in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament semifinals. The Jaguars are 35-23 all-time in the series with UNCP that dates back to the 1992 campaign. The Braves battled back from a two-set deficit on October 18 in Augusta, but the Jaguars inevitably held off the Braves with a 15-13 fifth set.