The 16th-ranked Blinn College volleyball team enters the NJCAA Division I Volleyball Championship field of 16 for the third consecutive season Thursday. 

Blinn (33-9) is vying for the program's fifth national championship and opens play against fourth-seeded Western Nebraska Community College at 3 p.m. on Thursday at the West Plains Civic Center in West Plains, Mo. Blinn enters the tournament as the No. 13 seed. 

"Every opportunity I've ever had to go to the national championship, I tell my team that this is the icing on the cake – win or lose," said fifth-year Blinn head coach Terry Gamble. "The trip to nationals is something the girls have earned throughout the year, and I want them to enjoy every moment of it, and that's what we plan to do." 

(Pictured: Blinn College head volleyball coach Terry Gamble talks to his team during a match Oct. 11)

The winner of the Blinn-Western Nebraska tilt will advance to face the winner of fifth-seeded Missouri State University-West Plains and 12th-seeded Northeastern Junior College in the quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The losers of those matches will fall to the consolation bracket and return to play on Friday. 

One season ago, Blinn entered the national competition as the Region XIV Tournament champion as well as the top-ranked and top-seeded team. This time around, the Buccaneers took a different route to nationals by punching their ticket with a successful run through the Region XIV Tournament consolation bracket that resulted in an automatic bid. Blinn swept Panola College in an impressive consolation finale to qualify, a victorious effort that left the Bucs eager for what's to come. 

"Beating Panola in the consolation title game was a high point of our season. We played exactly how we know we're capable of playing and our confidence after that match is high," sophomore libero Ellie Turner said. "Since that win, we've talked in practice about going into nationals and playing at that level, but also about doing the best we can and having fun. We want to have fun and soak up this experience because it's an opportunity not everybody gets." 

(Pictured: Blinn College sophomore libero Ellie Turner, center, leads a team celebration duringa match against College of DuPage on Sept. 15)

Prior to its eighth-place finish last season, the Bucs took fifth in 2020 with an upset of second-ranked Odessa College. Blinn captured its first national championship in 2008 and proceeded to win the title in 2011, 2013, and 2014. 

Being seeded 13th is by no way a deterrent for the Bucs, who finished in eighth place in 2021 while eighth-seeded Iowa Western Community College defeated sixth-seeded New Mexico Military Institute to win the championship. In other words, it's anybody's game. 

"We're going into the tournament to win it, and I don't think seeding dictates who's going to win the championship," sophomore hitter Kierslynn Wright said. "It's going to be whoever plays the hardest, and I definitely think our team has the heart and work ethic to go all the way. Team chemistry and the will to put in the work is going to dictate a lot of things, and we're ready." 

Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.