This story originally appeared on MiamiRedHawks.com.

The Miami University women's basketball team will face West Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, March 21. The Mid-American Conference champion RedHawks (28-6), who earned a No. 13 seed in the Big Dance, will travel to Morgantown, W.Va. to take on the fourth-seeded host Mountaineers (27-6); tip time is set for 5 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPNU. The winner will face either fifth-seeded Kentucky or 12th-seeded James Madison two days later.

"Everyone is super-excited to play," said sophomore forward Ilse de Vries. "it's a great opportunity.

"We work for this so long, so we're really excited to play."

"It's a wonderful opportunity to celebrate this tremendous season and it's great to see the joy," Miami head coach Glenn Box, the MAC Coach of the Year, said after the selection show concluded. "I know for a fact that these kids really appreciated the moment. They put a lot of hard work into this…

"I'm just delighted that everyone can enjoy this moment."

If Miami advances in the bracket, the regional semifinal and final will be held in Fort Worth, Texas later in March. The 2026 NCAA Women's Final Four is set for April 3 and 5 at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

Growing up in the Netherlands, de Vries said she only learned about March Madness in the past few years, but that didn't change her excitement level as she saw the RedHawks' name pop up on ESPN.

"This is really special to me, [and] this is really special for people at home," she said.

'My parents are really proud – this is a dream coming true."

The RedHawks earned their second NCAA Tournament berth in program history and first since 2008 by sweeping through the MAC Tournament in Cleveland, Ohio last week with victories over Kent State, Ohio and Toledo.

"I think we showed that we're competitive, that we work together and that we're not falling apart," de Vries commented. "There were times in games [there] that we could fall apart, but we didn't. We always stick together."

Four Miami players average in double figures, including Amber Tretter (14.5 points per game), MAC Tournament MVP Amber Scalia (13.7), de Vries (12.7) and Tamar Singer (10.9). Singer has 240 assists this year, the highest single-season total in program history.

The RedHawks' identity is built around their defense, allowing a MAC-low 58.5 points per game. Box said he is confident in how Miami's approach will translate in NCAA Tournament play.

"I think our defense gives us confidence; we feel like we can make things hard for other people," he said. "When you know that you can slow people down, it makes you a lot more relaxed offensively because you feel very good about your ability to get stops…

"We know that when we play our best basketball we literally can beat anyone, and that can be a lot of different ways," he continued.

"We don't need to come out of our element, we just need to do what we do…I feel very confident in our kids, they'll be ready to go."

Fans interested in traveling to Morgantown to support the RedHawks can fill out a ticket request form here.