Fatma Yildirim and Florida State are in the round of 16 for the first time
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The final spot in the round of 16 will be filled by third-seeded Florida State, after the Seminoles beat Jacksonville State 25-18, 26-24, 25-22 on Sunday in the only match of the tournament. It was a match full of great offense, as senior Nikki Baker and freshman Duygu Duzceler led Florida State to 48 kills on .408 hitting, and JSU had 50 kills on .345 hitting behind the setting of junior Brooke Schumacher. But FSU won the key points to become the first ACC team to reach the round of 16 since Georgia Tech did so in 2004. It's the first trip to that round ever for the 'Noles - who came into this year with a 1-11 all-time record in the tournament.
So as it turned out, 12 seeded teams and four unseeded squads (Baylor, Colorado State, Kentucky and Texas A&M) made it through the opening weekend. Eleven teams that hosted action this weekend made it through, while five teams that had to travel - No. 9 California, No. 11 Minnesota, No. 12 Hawai'i, Baylor and Texas A&M - advanced through. All four teams that had the opportunity to play on their home courts in the regionals - No. 4 Stanford, No. 10 Nebraska (regional is in Omaha, where the Huskers play select home matches), No. 11 Minnesota at No. 16 Florida - were able to advance through. All of the third-round matches will take place on Friday, Dec. 11, though none of the match times have yet been announced. The quarterfinals will all be on Saturday, Dec. 12 and be televised by ESPNU.
For more details on every match of the tournament, check out the interactive bracket - which also will feature match times for the round-of-16 contests once they have been released.
CONFERENCE UPDATE
Through two rounds, the Big 12 leads the way with five teams remaining (out of its six qualifiers), which marks the most teams in the final 16 for the conference since it was established in 1996. The Big Ten is next with four teams remaining - while the Pac-10 and SEC have two each. It's the first time since 2005 (Florida, Tennessee) that the SEC has had multiple teams in the third round and the first time the ACC has seen any of its teams reach the second weekend since 2004 (Georgia Tech).
Of particular note is the fact that the Pac-10 has just two teams remaining. The league has traditionally had the most success of any conference in the NCAA tournament. Pac-10 squads have won 13 national titles (including 11 of the last 19), and 22 of the 28 NCAA championship matches have featured at least one Pac-10 team. Additionally, three of the last five final fours have featured a trio of Pac-10 squads. This had the look of one of the best seasons ever for the league, as it had as many as eight teams in the AVCA poll during the season and got all but two of its members into the tournament (which tied the league record for most in a season, first done in 2002). The Pac-10 had five seeded teams and one more that was unseeded, but still got to host in the opening weekend. But two conference squads - Arizona and Washington State - fell in the opening round, which - amazingly - matched the league's total number of first-round defeats over the past seven years (43-2 record in that span). Then the second round saw three seeded teams - No. 6 Washington, No. 8 UCLA and No. 14 Oregon - and an unseeded host, USC, lose.
Below are the records for teams from each conference in this year's tournament (minimum two tournament qualifiers or one tournament win):
Western Athletic (1 team): 2-0, 1.000, 1 left (Hawai'i)
Big 12 (6 teams): 10-1, .909, 5 left (Baylor, Iowa State, Nebraska, Texas, Texas A&M)
Big Ten (6 teams): 9-2, .818, 4 left (Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State)
Southeastern (4 teams): 6-2, .750, 2 left (Florida, Kentucky)
Mountain West (3 teams): 3-2, .600, 1 left (Colorado State)
Pac-10 (8 teams): 8-6, .571, 2 left (California, Stanford)
Missouri Valley (2 teams): 2-2, .500, 0 left
Ivy League (1 team): 1-1, .500, 0 left
Mid-American (1 team): 1-1, .500, 0 left
Ohio Valley (1 team): 1-1, .500, 0 left
West Coast (1 team): 1-1, .500, 0 left
Atlantic Coast (5 teams): 2-4, .333, 1 left (Florida State)
Atlantic 10 (2 teams): 1-2, .333, 0 left
Sun Belt (2 teams): 1-2, .333, 0 left
Big West (2 teams): 0-2, .000, 0 left
Conference USA (2 teams): 0-2, .000, 0 left
BIG EAST (3 teams): 0-3, .000, 0 left
Way to go Big 12 (Baylor & Texas A&M) beating seeded and top 20 AVCA teams UCLA & LSU on their home courts. Impressed also with Kentucky with Craig Skinner (Nebraska former assistant coach) taking out Oregon.
Have to also congratulate Hawaii making the Sweet 16 by defeating USC on their home court. They are taking care of business after getting the short end of the stick from the committee.
Most of the start times for this weekend were in this Sunday's paper already. Omaha Regional Texas-Tex A&M 4:30 pm and NU & ISU 7:00 pm
kudos to the teams who have made it to the regionals! no matter how questionable how these "people" seed teams, i must admit it's turning out to be an intresting post season! i guess the volleyball RPI rankings are similar to football's BCS rankings, go figure! i feel both polls should be thrown out and seeding should be done only by one poll, the coaches poll. afterall, aren't these the people that know the game the most? to bad our concerns just fall to deaf ears. good luck to the teams who have made it this far, especially for the teams that were disrespected by this committee. i'm not about to stoop to this committees level and disrespect them, so thanks again for an intresting season and happy holidays. BAH HUMBUG!!
Great work by the Big 12, but coal in the stockings for the seeding committee. Four Big 12 teams in the same regional! The top three teams could compete in any of the regions for a spot in the final four but the seeding travesty will allow only one to advance. Their season of hard work will end in a conference tournament. Too bad for all the teams.
Nice job Big XII!!!! Too bad the NCAA saw fit to have four of those teams in the same regional.
Ditto Cary. Bad job by the seeding committee. A Big XII conference tournament going on in Omaha.
Great job wahine. yOU Have Hawaii on your shoulders. Win the championship
i seriously want to barf when i look at the tournament bracket.
yes, i'm from hawaii.
how the heck does the #14 team in the nation get seeded 3rd? and advance so far? really? someone please explain.
i have to agree with everyone...big 12 did great.too bad for texas,texas a&m,nebraska and iowa st they all have to play in the same region....it should be called the big 12 tourney.... good luck to everyone especially hawaii....GO BOWS
I hope the NCAA is not banking on all of those Florida State volleyball fans invading Tampa for the final foue because they only drew 879 fans for the first round on their home court.
The second round was even less 718.
Thanks to Todd Henrichs Lincoln Journal star
I feel there should be 1st & 2nd round seedings. Then the outcomes will determine the Regional seedings. After the Regional outcomes the Championship Seedings. This will garuntee nothing to nobody, whether political or otherwise. You have to bring it every match. If there is a tie then the total games won will be the 1st tie breaker and then the total points against will be the deciding factor.
There needs to be a legitimate process that is measurable and consistant.
No higher seeded team should ever have to travel to a lower or unseeded location. Where's the incentive for a team to win matches, if it becomes secondary to political or subjective gains.
Again...Shame on the Selection Committee
I'll echo the sentiment concerning the seeding as the wins by Baylor and Texas A&M are evidence of the caliber of play in the Big 12.
Also the Rainbow Wahine should have had the 1st and 2nd rounds in Honolulu where they fill some seats like we do in Omaha.
the tournament seedings are obviously wierd. my guess for the final four is penn st texas minnesota and hawaii. o and big 12 kicked butt
just watched hawaii def illnois.GREAT JOB HAWAII...we knocked off the 5 seed....next up stanford or michigan? will see
so its #12 hawaii and #13 michigan in the stanford finals....one more game to go to prove to the committe that they were wrong.And three games to go to really prove them wrong go bows.............
Tournament seedings are odd, it almost seems like a mini version of the BCS in some ways. Hawaii ended as the #3 team in AVCA poll and gets a 12th seed, really! And takes down a 5th seed Illinois team with relative ease. Selection Committee bias....hmmm, I agree with the 1st and 2nd rounds being in Honolulu too, 7,000-9,000 fans for sure. Nebraska also brings the fans in as well, what an environment. GO WAHINE! Big 12 is representing as well!! Good Luck to everyone.
Time & time again Hawaii has to prove themselves to this committee! WTF?!?! 12th? The coaches poll, once again is why I say seed the tournament according to that and not this RPI bull(beep)! With all do respect to Florida State, seeded 3rd, thanks to Minnasota for prooving this "committee & RPI" system wrong! The coaches got it 1, 2, & 3 are in, Gophers good job! Kinda weird how in the Nebraska regional, a lot of Texas teams were neck and neck. Whatever, moral is this committee needs to re-think it's selection & seedings criteria because apparently it's been bad for years! Good luck to the Final Four teams! GO BOWS!