With a rocky season filled with dropped upsets and playing with short benches, Oregon volleyball finally got the break its been looking for with the news from Sunday’s NCAA Tournament selection.

The Ducks will enter the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 15 in the nation and will host their first-round match against New Mexico State on Thursday, Nov. 29.

This is Oregon’s eighth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament and the second straight trip under head coach Matt Ulmer. Thursday’s first round matches will also mark the first time the Ducks have hosted NCAA first and second rounds since 2014, when the team defeated both Santa Clara and LSU to reach the tournament’s third round of matches.
The Ducks ended the regular season with a four-set Civil War victory Saturday night. The win not only moved the Oregon team to a 20-10 overall record and a 13-7 conference record, but placed them tied with USC for second in the Pac-12 — matching the program’s best conference finish in school history.

“To finish second in the Pac-12 is a big accomplishment for our program,” Ulmer told GoDucks.com. “I’m really proud of this team and I’m happy for the seniors; they’re trying to leave a legacy, they want to leave the program better than they found it and they’re trying to help us get to the top in the country, and this is definitely a part of that process.”

The last time the Ducks finished second in the conference was in 2012, the same year the team made it to the national championship match in the postseason tournament.

The Pac-12 leads all conferences with 8 teams in the NCAA Tournament, leading with the No. 1 ranked Stanford Cardinal. Additional teams in the tournament include: No. 11 USC, No. 16 Washington State, Washington, Colorado, Utah and Arizona.

Oregon’s first round of the NCAA Tournament will be against New Mexico State (24-7) at Matthew Knight Arena Thursday at 7 p.m.

Follow Maggie Vanoni on Twitter: @maggie_vanoni