KANSAS CITY - The NAIA announced its matchups for the 2023 NAIA Women's Volleyball Opening Round on Monday, and CIU volleyball is slated to host a familiar foe to begin tournament play. The Rams will face No. 24 Bethel University (Ind.) in the opening round, a rematch of last season's opening-round matchup. CIU will hope for a different result, however, as their 2022 battle with the Pilots ended in a Rams' loss (25-15, 25-22, 25-17).

CIU enters the match with a 31-1 record fresh of their second consecutive Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament championship. The Pilots hail from the highly competitive Crossroads League and currently sit 26-6 overall after falling to Indiana Wesleyan University in the Crossroads semifinals last Wednesday. 

Prior to taking the helm of CIU's women's volleyball program, Rams head coach Katie Weiss spent the previous six seasons as the head coach of Bethel after also having a successful playing career for the Pilots. Weiss holds a .970 winning percentage as a head coach for the Rams, with just one loss in her CIU tenure. 

The opening round match between CIU and Bethel is penciled in for Saturday, Nov. 18, at 1:00 p.m. EST in the Moore Fitness Center. The match will be broadcast live on the CIU Sports Network, with ticket info to be released shortly.