For the first time, Weatherford College is hosting the NJCAA Region V Volleyball Tournament this Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 2-4, at the Betty Jo Graber Athletic Center. 

The top four teams from the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference and the top four from the Western Junior College Athletic Conference will face off in the double-elimination bracket. 

The Coyotes (29-3), the NTJCAC No. 1 seed and No. 12-ranked team in the country, are scheduled to play their first match of the tournament Thursday at approximately 1 p.m. against Western Texas College (17-14). 

The college is hosting the First Serve, a free community cookout in honor of the Coyotes, beginning at 11:30 a.m. in the parking lot north of the E.W. Mince Building, near the Graber Center entrance. 

The Region V champion will be crowned in the title match Friday night at 7 p.m. The loser of that match will play Saturday at 1 p.m. for second place. Both the champion and the runner-up will earn automatic berths in the NJCAA Division I National Tournament held Nov. 15-18 in Hutchinson, Kansas. 

In addition to WC, teams representing the NTJCAC will include No. 2 seed North Central Texas College (20-13), No. 3 seed Hill College (16-17) and No. 4 seed Vernon College (11-15). 

Three of the WJCAC's participants are nationally ranked. New Mexico Military Institute (26-4), ranked No. 6 in the country as of Oct. 23, earned the top seed from the west. New Mexico Junior College, No. 9 in the nation with a 26-4 record, is the WJCAC second seed. No. 8 ranked Odessa College (25-5) is the three seed and Western Texas finished fourth. 

Tournament passes are available online at weatherfordcollege.simpletix.com. Three-day tournament passes are available for $25 each. Day passes are $10; senior citizens and students may buy day passes for $8 each. Tickets are also available at the door. 

For the latest information on the tournament, follow the WC Athletics feeds on Facebook and X.