St. Ambrose will begin its National Tournament run with an opening-round match at the College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Neb., Saturday as the NAIA announced the women's volleyball championship pairings.

The Bees earned one of two Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference automatic bids by winning the CCAC Tournament. Judson will also represent the conference at nationals. It marked the first CCAC Tournament title for St. Ambrose since joining the league in 2015.

SAU will face a Saint Mary team that earned an at-large bid after compiling a 22-8 record this season.

St. Ambrose (19-14) enters the postseason riding a seven-match winning streak behind conference player of the year Mackenzie Grafton. Meredith Siebers also earned first team all-CCAC recognition while Hannah Sondag and Meredith Umland were named to the second team.

The winner of Saturday's 3 p.m. match will advance to the NAIA Championship final site at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. Play begins there Nov. 29 and a national champion will be crowned Dec. 5.

This is the first time St. Ambrose has qualified for back-to-back NAIA Tournaments since the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Last year, the Bees dropped their opening-round match at No. 2 Jamestown 3-0. Jamestown went on to win the 2022 NAIA National Championship.