Release courtesy of CNR Athletics

DANBURY, CT - The long wait is over. But, the season is not.  The College of New Rochelle Womens Volleyball team found out Monday night the ECAC has selected the Blue Angels as one of six teams to compete in its Metro Region post-season tournament.  As the 6th seed, CNR will travel to #3 seed Manhattanville on Wednesday at 7pm.

CNR returns to the ECAC Tournament for the 2nd straight season and 2nd time overall in program history.  The Blue Angels earned a spot in the 2014 event as the #5 seed and eventually lost to the #4 seed Rutgers Newark

For Manhattanville, this is the program's first appearance in the ECAC Tournament and first postseason appearance of any type since making the championship game of the Skyline Conference Tournament in 2001.

A quick look at each:

CNR comes into the contest after winning its 3rd straight HVIAC title.  The Blue Angels are 19-12 overall and 13-11 versus NCAA competition - a criteria used in determining qualification to the ECAC.  The Blue Angels are led by sophomore Fabiola Padilla Rios (San Juan, PR) who has 306 kills, and junior Melanie Ann Lopez Soto (Gurabo, PR), who was named the HVIAC Co-Player of the Year and is tops in the nation in aces.

The Valiants enter the postseason with a 17-9 record following a sixth-place finish in the MAC Freedom regular-season standings. Junior Alissa Primavera leads the team with 243 kills, while sophomore Kerry Mackey had put down 236 kills and currently ranks 22nd in Division III with her conference-best .369 hitting percentage.

What is next?

The winner of Wednesday's Quarterfinal contest gets to travel to top-seed Ramapo College (host) and play #2 Kean University Saturday.  Both semi-finals and finals will be played on Saturday at Ramapo.  CNR lost to Kean very early in the 2015 campaign, 3-0.