Volleyball to Host Opening Rounds of NCAA Championship
Monday, November 26, 2007 | Volleyball
The University of Florida was one of 16 schools selected to play host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA Volleyball Championships, the NCAA committee announced Sunday evening.
The Gators (27-2), who received the No. 13 overall seed in the 64-team field, also play host to one of four Regionals (December 7 & 8) involving four winning teams of second-round matches.
In the Gainesville sub-regional, which will be held November 29 and 30, Florida plays College of Charleston (26-7) in the first round, while the other opening-round match at the O'Connell Center features Florida A&M (18-7) and Oklahoma (21-9).
Media and fans are asked to check www.GatorZone.com for additional details, which will be posted to the University of Florida official website as soon as they become available.
Florida was one of 31 teams receiving its conference's automatic bid into the field. The remaining 33 slots were filled with at-large selections to complete the bracket.
The top 16 teams were seeded nationally and placed within four regions. The teams tabbed as the top four seeds were No. 1 Stanford University; No. 2 University of Nebraska, Lincoln; No. 3 Pennsylvania State University; and No. 4 University of Texas at Austin.
Team pairings were determined by geographical proximity, with the exception that teams from the same conference were not paired during the first and second rounds.
The Big 12 Conference, the Big Ten Conference and the Pacific-10 Conference led all conferences with six teams selected. The Southeastern Conference garnered five teams in the field while the West Coast Conference and Missouri Valley Conference each have four teams in the tournament. Two teams, Penn State and Stanford have earned bids to all 27 championships. Six teams are making their initial appearances in the tournament: Cleveland State University, University of Delaware, Lipscomb University, South Dakota State University, Tennessee State University, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
In the 26-year history of the championship, ten schools have been crowned champion, nine of which are in this year's bracket, including the defending champion Nebraska.
Additional past winners making the field are Stanford (1992, 94, 96, 97, 2001, 04), University of Hawaii, Manoa (1982, 83, 87), Long Beach State University (1989, 93, 98), University of California, Los Angeles (1984, 90, 91), Nebraska (1995, 2000, and 2006), University of Southern California (1981, 2002, 03), Penn State (1999), Texas (1988) and University of Washington (2005).
First- and second-round matches will be played at 16 campus sites. A list of the first-round match-ups follows:
*indicates First and Second Round Sub-Regional Host
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA REGIONAL
November 30 and December 1 at Stanford, California
*No. 1 Stanford (27-2) vs. Santa Clara (19-11)
Minnesota (18-12) vs. Sacramento St. (28-7)
November 30 and December 1 at Athens, Ohio
Purdue (18-13) vs. *Ohio (26-5)
Xavier (24-10) vs. No. 16 Cal Poly (21-7)
November 30 and December 1 at Manhattan, Kansas
*No. 9 Kansas St. (22-8) vs. Tulsa (27-8)
Oregon (20-10) vs. Missouri St. (25-7)
November 30 and December 1 at Clemson, South Carolina
Alabama (15-14) vs. *Clemson (28-3)
Alabama A&M (15-9) vs. No. 8 UCLA (20-10)
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA REGIONAL
November 30 and December 1 at Los Angeles, California
*No. 5 USC (25-4) vs. Pepperdine (18-10)
Long Beach St. (25-6) vs. UNLV (24-5)
November 30 and December 1 at Queens, New York
Princeton (22-3) vs. Delaware (30-4)
Long Island (23-13) vs. *No. 12 St. John's (N.Y.) (31-3)
November 29 and 30 at Gainesville, Florida
*No. 13 Florida (27-2) vs. Col. of Charleston (26-7)
Florida A&M (18-7) vs. Oklahoma (21-9)
November 30 and December 1 at Austin, Texas
New Mexico St. (26-5) vs. LSU (24-7)
Texas St. (21-11) vs. *No. 4 Texas (24-3)
UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA REGIONAL
November 30 and December 1 at University Park, Pennsylvania
*No. 3 Penn St. (28-2) vs. Siena (24-7)
Albany (N.Y.) (23-9) vs. Cleveland St. (23-8)
November 30 and December 1 at Ann Arbor, Michigan
*Michigan (22-10) vs. Miami (Ohio) (20-10)
Illinois St. (21-11) vs. No. 14 Colorado St. (22-7)
November 30 and December 1 at Louisville, Kentucky
No. 11 Hawaii (26-5) vs. Tennessee St. (20-13)
Middle Tenn. (33-2) vs. *Louisville (22-7)
November 30 and December 1 at Seattle, Washington
BYU (21-7) vs. Mississippi (25-7)
Missouri (17-12) vs. *No. 6 Washington (26-3)
MADISON, WISCONSIN REGIONAL
November 30 and December 1 at Madison, Wisconsin
*No. 7 Wisconsin (25-4) vs. Northern Iowa (22-10)
Iowa St. (17-13) vs. San Diego (21-7)
November 30 and December 1 at Durham, North Carolina
*Duke (24-6) vs. American (26-7)
Liberty (27-8) vs. No. 10 California (22-7)
November 30 and December 1 at Dayton, Ohio
*No. 15 Dayton (32-1) vs. Lipscomb (20-11)
Kentucky (22-9) vs. Michigan St. (19-13)
November 30 and December 1 at Lincoln, Nebraska
Wichita St. (26-5) vs. Western Ky. (27-8)
South Dakota St. (25-10) vs. *No. 2 Nebraska (27-1)
Teams winning both matches will move on to regional play December 7 and 8. The pre-determined regional sites are Stanford, California; Gainesville, Florida; University Park, Pennsylvania; and Madison, Wisconsin. The regional winners will advance to the semifinals and final hosted by Sacramento State University and the Sacramento Sports Commission at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California, on December 13 and 15. For more information about the championship, log on to www.ncaasports.com.
END OF REPORT
