Amalia Simmons already has her name in the transfer portal. She is winding down her fourth year with the Michigan women’s volleyball team and is looking forward to what her final year of athletic eligibility might bring.

But before she doffs the famed maize and blue, the Moon graduate will wear it for “homecoming.”

The Wolverines (21-10) received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and will open in Pittsburgh on Friday. Michigan will face Xavier, the No. 8 seed in the region, at 4 p.m. at Petersen Events Center. Pitt, the top seed in the region and host through the elite eight, plays UMBC afterward.

“So much fulfillment just being able to finish off where I started,” Simmons, a redshirt junior outside hitter, told TribLive. “I was super excited to figure out we were coming back to the Burgh.”

Simmons is one of six WPIAL players on tournament rosters. The others are Butler’s Ava Carney (Miami, Fla.), Montour’s Kennady Martindale (Central Arkansas), Seneca Valley’s Sarah White (USF), Pine-Richland’s Sophie Catalano (Toledo) and North Catholic’s Sienna Cozza (North Carolina).

Catalano, Carney and Simmons played together with the Pittsburgh Elite volleyball club. Catalano, who played three seasons at Clemson, also played against Carney’s Hurricanes.

Having her team get into the tournament was particularly fulfilling for Simmons and Catalano. They hadn’t experienced the postseason in their previous three seasons.

Simmons said her teammates seemed tense as they prepared to watch the tournament selection show Sunday night. Simmons, however, said she was “chill.”

“We had polls that were like, ‘You’re in!’ and ‘Maybe!’ and ‘You’re the first ones out!’ ” Simmons said. “I fully had belief. I was calm sitting there. I was like, our name is going to get called. I just know it. It’s about time Michigan gets back to the tournament.”

Catalano didn’t have to sweat out the selection show. The Rockets qualified by winning the MAC Tournament, upsetting the top two seeds (Ball State and Western Michigan) along the way. And Catalano also helped Toledo make history: qualifying for NCAAs for the first time.

The Rockets (23-10) will travel to Bloomington, Ind., to play the host Hoosiers at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

“It was so fun to play (the MAC Tournament) at Bowling Green, only 30 minutes away from Toledo. It really felt like a home match the entire time with all of our fans there and the whole community coming out and supporting us,” Catalano said. “When you play a team (Ball State) twice and you lose twice (during the regular season), not that we were looking for revenge, but we know we can beat them. We know we can hang with them.

“We went in with the game plan of, hey, let’s shut down their outsides early and make them score with other players, and it ended up working out for us.”

Catalano finished her undergrad degree at Clemson in three years and went in search of another athletic opportunity closer to home.

The redshirt junior opposite averaged 2.49 kills per set in 31 matches for the Rockets, including 15 kills in the upset of No. 1 Ball State in the MAC semifinals. She still has one season of eligibility remaining but said she has not made a decision on whether to use it.

The NCAA Tournament comes first. And though the odds will be stacked against the Rockets, Catalano said the players aren’t just going to show up. Before the team left for Bloomington, coach Brian Wright showed the players videos of Toledo’s athletic success against bigger schools.

“The funny thing was, the first video he showed us was Pitt playing Toledo in football (in the 2024 GameAbove Sports Bowl) and Toledo coming out on top,” she said. “The last video he showed was actually Toledo playing Indiana in men’s basketball in like 1976. Indiana was like fourth (ranked), and Toledo went in and won.

“It’s like, hey, if we go out and be the more aggressive team, at this time of the year, anyone can win.”

Barring a miracle run by Martindale and Central Arkansas, who are in Pitt’s quadrant of the bracket and play at regional second seed SMU on Friday, Simmons will be the only WPIAL product to play in Pittsburgh during the tournament.

She has been in a platoon of sorts with fellow outside hitter Ella Demetrician. Simmons calls their competition for playing time tense but friendly, and she prides herself on making life difficult for her teammates in practice.

“My role personally is that behind-the-scenes leadership role,” said Simmons, who averaged 2.27 kills per set in 11 matches, including 13 in the regular-season finale against UCLA. “I’m always making it a goal to frustrate the other players on my team in practice as best I can.

“So if I’m on the other side, it’s, ‘How can I block (senior middle) Serena (Nyambio) and literally frustrate her?’ … When I’m serving my libero off the court, I know I’m making them better for when the game play is happening, but it’s also preparing me for that role if I need to step up.”

The next time she does it will be in front of familiar faces at the Pete. Simmons said she gets six tickets to give to friends and family but won’t be surprised if her support exceeds her ticket allotment.

“I’m hoping to pack the house,” she said. “A lot of my friends are still in Pittsburgh. My parents as well. So I’m like, ‘Come on, guys. Come out. Let’s get this crowd going.’ ”

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