Colorado College hopes a change in direction will result in the program's second-ever trip to the national semifinals of the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship.
 
For the fourth-ranked Tigers, the road to Pittsburgh goes through Mount Berry, Ga., after they were assigned to the eight-team regional at Berry College.
 
CC will make the program's 21st-consecutive postseason appearance when it faces Washington and Lee University in the first round on Friday, Nov. 9, at 3 p.m. ET. That match will be Colorado College's first postseason appearance in Georgia since 2013 when it advanced to the regional championship at Emory University in Atlanta.
 
"It's a bit of a surprise," head coach Rick Swan said. "That said, we're looking forward to travelling to a new place and playing teams we're not too familiar with. Our focus is being prepared to play Washington and Lee on Friday."
 
For the second year in a row, the Tigers earned an automatic berth with a five-set victory in the championship match of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament. CC posted a dramatic 24-26, 25-22, 27-25, 24-26, 15-8 victory over Southwestern University on Sunday, Nov. 4, in Irving, Texas.
 
Colorado College reached the 30-win mark for the eighth time in the last 10 years and the 10th time in program history with Saturday's sweep of championship host University of Dallas.
 
The Tigers, who enter the postseason with a 31-2 record, are making the program's 28th overall appearance in the NCAA tournament. CC, which advanced to the Elite 8 in 2009, owns an all-time NCAA tournament record of 18-27, including a 14-20 mark during the first 20 years of Swan's tenure as head coach.
 
Washington and Lee (21-12) earned an automatic berth by posting a five-set victory over top-seeded Randolph-Macon University in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship match.
 
Friday's winner faces either Emory (24-6) or Meredith College (23-4) on Saturday. On the other side of the regional bracket, Birmingham-Southern College (25-6) faces the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (26-4), while Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (19-12) meets regional host Berry (25-3).
 
Headlining the Tigers are four players who earned all-conference honors. Junior middle hitter Marguerite Spaethling was named SCAC Player of the Year and was joined on the first team by junior setter Lizzy Counts, junior outside hitter Haley Harris and senior middle hitter Myca Steffey-Bean.
 
Swan was voted Coach of the Year for the fifth time in a ballot of his conference peers. He also received the award in 2010, 2015 and 2017, and was co‐coach of the year in 2012.