--- For a fifth straight year, the Tusculum College volleyball team has earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Division II National Tournament.

The Pioneers (21-10) will be the No. 4 seed in the Southeast Regional and will face fifth-seeded Anderson University (18-14). The Southeast Regional will be held Dec. 5-8 at Cuddy Arena on the campus of Wingate University.

Wingate (29-2), the South Atlantic Conference champion, will be the top-seed in this year's regional and will face No 8-seed Belmont Abbey College (28-3), champions of Conference Carolinas. Armstrong Atlantic State University (30-1) earned the automatic bid as the Peach Belt Conference champion and will face No. 7-seed Newberry College (18-12). Flagler College (20-12) is the third seed and will face No. 6-seed Queens University of Charlotte (17-11).

This will be the fourth meeting this year between Tusculum and Anderson. The Pioneers won the two regular-season meetings against the Trojans, but Anderson posted a 3-2 win over Tusculum in Saturday's SAC Tournament semifinal. TC leads the all-time series with Anderson 13-2 and has won 12 of the last 13 meetings. Saturday's loss snapped a 12-match winning streak over the Trojans, a run that started in 2004.

Tusculum enjoyed its No. 4-seeding at last year's Southeast Regional. Tusculum knocked off Lincoln Memorial University for the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament victory. TC topped that with a 3-1 upset over top-seed and host Armstrong to advance to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time in school history.

The Pioneers took on a difficult schedule this season, evident by the seven teams it faced that advanced to this year's NCAA II Tournament. Outside of the four other SAC members that are participating in the Southeast Regional, 2013 TC opponents Palm Beach Atlantic University (No. 2 seed in South), Ashland University (No. 4 seed in Midwest) and Wheeling Jesuit University (No. 1 seed in Atlantic) also advanced to the 64-team bracket.

The volleyball team's five straight trips to the NCAA Tournament ties a Tusculum athletic department record for most consecutive NCAA berths by a sport. Volleyball matches the five straight NCAA berths posted by the women's tennis (2001-2005) and women's basketball programs (2007-2012).

The winner of the Southeast Regional will advance to the NCAA II Eight, which will be held Dec. 12-14 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and hosted by Upper Iowa University.

No. 3 Flagler vs. No. 6 Queens, Noon
No. 2 Armstrong vs. No. 7 Newberry, 2:30 p.m.
No. 4 Tusculum vs. No. 5 Anderson, 5 p.m.
No. 1 Wingate vs. No. 8 Belmont Abbey, 7:30 p.m.

Semifinal ∙ December 6, 2013
Wingate/Belmont Abbey winner vs. Tusculum/Anderson winner
Armstrong/Newberry winner vs. Flagler/Queens winner

Championship ∙ December 7, 2013
Semifinal winners