Going into a season postponed several months by a pandemic, nothing ever felt guaranteed for Weber State volleyball. The Wildcats chose to focus on each moment when volleyball took place — in the weight room, at practice, at a game.

Now, with a dominant conference run under its belt, Weber State (18-1) sees the NCAA Tournament as simply the next chance to get better and enjoy the game.

“At the beginning of this season, we weren’t guaranteed games at any time so we really wanted to just take advantage of every single opportunity that we had,” senior outside hitter and Big Sky MVP Rylin Adams said. “So I think this weekend is no different than the rest of our season, just taking care of the little things and taking care of every moment that we get to play volleyball.”

But, as the Wildcats finished waiting out COVID-19 protocols at their hotel in Omaha, Nebraska, and prepared to face Bowling Green (22-1) in the first round Wednesday (5 p.m. MDT, ESPN3/WatchESPN), there was still some measure of feeling the moment.

“It’s been a dream of mine and my teammates since we were little girls to play in the NCAA Tournament. So I’m feeling super excited and humbled to have this opportunity to compete at this level,” Adams said.

Bowling Green led the MAC in lowest opponent hitting percentage (.166) and WSU head coach Jeremiah Larsen said the Falcons will serve tough and hit hard from the outside.

“I think we’re going to be challenged in a really, really good way and I will make us better in the long run,” Larsen said. “We like our chances, of course, but if we do our job, it’s going to be a long, long game.”

The winner advances to play No. 1 overall seed Wisconsin, which Adams said would be invaluable to grow as a team — the Wildcats, after all, seem set to return their entire roster in the fall.

Weber State went through the fire of two straight conference tournaments to get to this point, losing the title match in five sets in 2019 and falling down 1-0 to Northern Colorado on April 2 before winning the title 3-1.

“Playing at that level and handling that type of pressure has been really good for us,” Adams said. “We learned a lot and grew a lot as a team, so I think that loss prepared us coming into this season.”