BigTen.org, November 27, 2016

Eight Big Ten teams have been selected to the 2016 NCAA Volleyball Tournament, it was announced Sunday night, with first- and second-round matches held Dec. 1-3.

[ MORE: View the official interactive NCAA bracket ]

Reigning NCAA champ Nebraska enters the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed, while No. 2 Minnesota, No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 9 Michigan State, No. 12 Michigan and No. 16 Penn State also earned top-16 seeds.

Ohio State and Purdue also received at-large bids to the national tournament. The Huskers, Gophers, Badgers, Spartans, Wolverines and Nittany Lions will host first- and second- round contests.

After winning its second Big Ten championship, Nebraska will take on New Hampshire on Friday at 8 p.m. ET in the opening round. With a win, the Cornhuskers would face the winner of the Wichita State-TCU match. Nebraska will be making its 35th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

The second-seeded Golden Gophers are making their 21st trip to the NCAA Tournament and will host North Dakota at 8 p.m. on Friday. If Minnesota advances, it would meet Hawaii or Southern California in the second round.

Third-seeded Wisconsin will entertain Howard at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. With a first-round win, the Badgers would face Marquette or Washington State in the second round. Wisconsin is making its 20th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Michigan State enters its 19th NCAA Tournament, and will host Fairfield on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The winner of the match will advance to the second round, and take on Cleveland or Arizona.

No. 12 seed Michigan, making its 16th trip to the NCAA Tournament, will head host American in the first-round on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. If Michigan advances, the Wolverines would face the winner of the Miami (Ohio) vs. Oregon match.

Sixteenth-seeded Penn State enters its 36thconsecutive NCAA Tournament, and will host LIU-Brooklyn on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The winner of the match will take on Dayton or Pittsburgh.

Ohio State enters its 24th NCAA Tournament and will take on Missouri State on Friday at 6 p.m. in the opening round. With a win, the Buckeyes would face the winner of the Lipscomb or Kansas State.

Purdue received a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the 18th time and will face Iowa State in the opening round on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. If Purdue wins, the Boilermakers would face either Missouri or Northern Illinois in the second round.

First- and second-round matches will take place on campus sites on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, while the regional round will be played at one of four sites on Dec. 9 and 10. Regional winners will advance to Columbus, Ohio, to compete in the national semifinals on Dec. 15, with the national championship match set for Dec. 17.