BURNSVILLE, Minn. - The Southwest Minnesota State volleyball has earned the No. 6 seed and will face No. 3 seed St. Cloud State in the quarterfinals of the NSIC Tournament on Tuesday in St. Cloud, Minn., starting at 6 p.m. 

SMSU (21-6, 14-6 NSIC) tied for fifth in the final NSIC standings with Sioux Falls, but the Cougars earned the tiebreaker and the No. 5 seed by defeating the Mustangs twice during the regular season.

SMSU will be facing St. Cloud State (23-6, 18-2 NSIC) for the second time this season with SCSU earning a reverse-sweep, 3-2 victory in St. Cloud on Oct. 3. 

The semifinals/championship matches of the tournament will be hosted at the highest remaining seed. The semifinals/championship matches will take place on two consecutive days between Friday and Sunday, Nov. 21-23 with the dates of competition determined by the host institution following the quarterfinal round. 

The quarterfinal round matches will be free to view on the NSIC Network.  The semifinals and championship matches will be behind a paywall as fans can purchase a match for $10 or a tournament pass (all three matches) for $15.  

The NSIC, the Mid-America Athletic Association (MIAA) and the Great American Conference (GAC) make up the 40-team NCAA Central Region.  The top eight teams in the region will advance to the NCAA region tournament on December 4-7.  Automatic bids are granted to the winners of the MIAA, GAC and NSIC postseason tournaments, with the remaining five spots awarded on an at-large basis. The NCAA Volleyball selection show will be streamed online on Monday, November 24 at 6:30 p.m. (CT) on NCAA.com. 

The championship quarterfinals, semifinals and final match will take place Thursday-Saturday, Dec. 11-13, at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.