KANSAS CITY - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced the 2024 Women's Volleyball National Championship Opening Round matchups on Monday, Nov. 19, as CIU women's volleyball will begin its NAIA postseason journey in Indianapolis.

CIU will travel to No. 23 Marian University (Ind.) to play the Knights on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 7:00 p.m. ET. The Knights are a familiar foe for CIU head coach Katie Weiss, who faced Marian several times as the head coach of fellow Crossroads League (CL) member Bethel University (Ind.) Weiss has three wins all-time versus Marian, with her most recent win coming on Sept. 21, 2022, as her Pilots team defeated a Knights squad that was ranked as the No. 3 team in the country.

This year's Marian team holds a 23-8 overall record and a 12-6 record in the CL. Notably, the Knights scored an upset over No. 14 Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio.) in the CL tournament before falling to No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan in the title match.

CIU enters the match with a 32-2 record, coming off their third consecutive Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) tournament championship and fourth straight AAC regular-season title.

The Rams are led by a myriad of veteran players, including All-Conference performers, libero Kelcey Mangum, right-side hitter Hanah Weiss, middle blocker Lydia Gustafson, and outside hitter Hadassah Davis.

CIU also touts two of the most experienced setters in the NAIA, graduate students Melissa Campos Soto and Kamelia De Jesus.

The winner of Saturday's match will head to the 45th Annual NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship final site in Sioux City, Iowa, where they will begin pool play along with 23 other opening-round winners on Dec. 4.

The Marian versus CIU, opening round match will be streamed on the ISC SportsNetwork. The stream is pay-per-view only.

Fans who plan to make the trip to the Hoosier state can purchase tickets to the match here.