By DAIVD O’LEARY

Marshall Athletics

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Marshall women’s basketball team (26-6) will face the No. 4-seeded Virginia Tech Hokies (24-7) from Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg for the First Round in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

Tip time and network information will be announced early Monday. More information on tickets will be released at a later time.

The Herd is returning to March Madness for the second time in program history and for its first appearance in 27 years after being officially announced Sunday evening.

In the Herd’s first season with Coach Kim Caldwell as head coach, the team set the all-time mark for wins in a season en route to winning the Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament titles.

Caldwell and the team erupted into celebration when the team was announced live in front of a sizeable crowd at Marshall’s Memorial Student Center.

“Thank you to everyone who helped make tonight special,” Caldwell said. “Thank you to everyone who came out and made tonight one we won’t ever forget.”

Marshall will go into March Madness led by SBC Player of the Year Abby Beeman, who is seventh in the nation with 205 assists.

“It’s been fun trying to guess all week where we might go,” Beeman said. “But we’re finally ready to now know who we’re going to be playing. We knew whoever we got was going to be a tough matchup because all the teams in the tournament are really good.”