By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director

Rochester, MN -- After a long bus ride, the Owens Volleyball team arrived in Rochester, Minnesota on Tuesday evening ahead of their participation in the Division III NJCAA National Championships. 

The Express took Monday to put together final preparations for the trip before hitting the road on Tuesday morning at 8 AM bound for the "Land of 10,000 Lakes. The team arrived about 5 PM CST. The team took the night to settle in.

Wednesday was a practice day. The Express got on the court early in the afternoon and practiced for about an hour before returning to their hotel. The team then attended the tournament banquet in the evening. 

On Monday, the official bracket for this weekend's tournament was released, and for the second straight year, Owens was named the No.1 overall seed for the tournament. Because of their top ranking, the Express will receive a first round bye. The first round is slated to begin at 10 AM on Thursday morning at the UCR Regional Sports Center in Rochester. 

Owens won't play until the quarterfinals, also scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. The Express will play the winner of Queensborough and SUNY Broome in their quarterfinal matchup. First serve is scheduled for 4 PM CST or 5 PM EST. 

Interested fans can watch the matches on NJCAAtv.com. The website is offering live streaming of every match for the tournament. Broadcasts can be purchased for $4.99 for a single game or $14.99 for the entire tournament. The games can be watched online or on a phone or tablet by downloading the NJCAAtv app. 

For more information on the tournament, fans can click here.

Stay tuned to OwensExpress.com as well as our social media pages on Twitter or on Facebook for the most up to date information.