The James Madison University softball team will head to Knoxville, Tennessee for the first round of the NCAA tournament.

JMU will face the host school and 13th-seed Volunteers in their opening game of the double-elimination regional on Friday afternoon. The Dukes played the Vols back in the beginning of the season in Knoxville, falling 3-1.

"In the [CAA] championship, when we beat Hofstra 2-0 is the best game we played all year," says JMU head softball coach Katie Flynn. "The second best game we played all year was the 3-1 loss to Tennessee."

Jacksonville St. and Nebraska are the other two squads joining Tennessee and JMU in the Knoxville Region.

JMU will be making their first ever trip to the NCAA tournament after winning their first ever conference championship. It's the first time in the conference's history a different team, other than Hofstra, has won the CAA crown.

"Our whole team has clicked at the right time," says senior pitcher Jenny Clohan. "I feel we've peaked and everybody's coming together and contributing."

Senior third baseman Amber Kirk says, "Whoever we play, we play at our level, so we're going to keep that up."

"It's unbelievable that we're having the run that we're on right now," adds senior pitcher Meredith Felts. "Pitching, hitting, defense, it's all come together."

JMU heads into the tournament riding a nine-game winning streak, having won 15 of their last 18 games overall.