Nov. 30, 2008

 

Printable Bracket

 

INDIANAPOLIS --- The NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Committee announced today the 64-team field for the 2008 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship. Thirty-one conferences were awarded automatic qualification, and 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 Pennsylvania State University; No. 2 Stanford University; No. 3 University of Texas at Austin; and No. 4 University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

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 Pacific-10 Conference led all conferences with six teams selected.  The Big Ten Conference and West Coast Conference garnered five teams each in the field while the Big 12 Conference and Southeastern Conference each have four teams in the tournament. Two teams, Penn State and Stanford have earned bids to all 28 championships.   Four teams are making their initial appearances in the tournament: Furman University, North Dakota State University, Portland State University, and Tulane University.

In the 27-year history of the championship, 10 schools have been crowned champion, nine of which are in this year's bracket, including the defending champion Penn State.

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, 2007), 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. 

 

FORT COLLINS, COLORADO REGIONAL

 

December 5-6 at Los Angeles, California

No. 7 Hawaii (28-3) vs. Belmont (25-7)

San Diego (23-4) vs. *Southern California (16-11)

 

December 5-6 at West Lafayette, Indiana

Middle Tenn. (26-7) vs. Miami (Ohio) (21-11)

Louisville (19-10) vs. *No. 10 Purdue (24-8)

 

December 5-6 at Gainesville, Florida

*No. 15 Florida (25-3) vs. Florida A&M (14-12)

Florida Int'l (28-6) vs. Colorado St. (22-6)

 

December 5-6 at Stanford, California

Pepperdine (20-7) vs. Long Beach St. (25-5)

Albany (N.Y.) (23-8) vs. *No. 2 Stanford (26-3)

 

 

 

UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA REGIONAL

 

December 5-6 at University Park, Pennsylania

*No. 1 Penn St. (32-0) vs. Long Island (19-11)

Yale (20-5) vs. Ohio (24-7)

 

December 5-6 at Dayton, Ohio

Western Mich. (26-6) vs. Dayton* (21-12)

Tennessee Tech (19-12) vs. No. 16 Tulane (27-5)

 

December 5-6 at Champaign, Illinois

*No. 9 Illinois (24-7) vs. Milwaukee (23-8)

Cincinnati (26-6) vs. Western Ky. (26-9)

 

December 5-6 at Berkeley, California

New Mexico St. (25-8) vs. St. Mary's (Cal.) (20-7)

Siena (20-12) vs. *No. 8 California (23-6)

 

AUSTIN, TEXAS REGIONAL

 

December 5-6 at Austin, Texas

*No. 3 Texas (25-3) vs. Lamar (17-11)

Wichita St. (29-1) vs. Rice (23-7)

 

December 5-6 at Los Angeles, California

San Francisco (22-7) vs. Duke (24-8)

LSU (18-9) vs. *No. 14 UCLA (20-10)

 

December 5-6 at Washington, DC

No. 11 Oregon (23-8) vs. Delaware (19-15)

*American (24-8) vs. North Carolina (21-10)

 

December 5-6 at Minneapolis, Minnesota

UNI (25-8) vs. Iowa St. (19-12)

North Dakota St. (24-3) vs. *No. 6 Minnesota (26-6)

 

Seattle, Washington Regional

 

December 5-6 at Seattle, Washington

*No. 5 Washington (24-4) vs. Portland St. (20-8)

Santa Clara (17-9) vs. Kansas St. (24-7)

December 5-6 at Clemson, South Carolina

Tennessee (22-9) vs. Clemson* (22-9)

Furman (21-13) vs. No. 12 Utah (24-5)

 

December 4-5 at Lexington, Kentucky

No. 13 St. Louis (28-4) vs. Alabama A&M (12-14)

*Kentucky (26-5) vs. Michigan (24-8)

 

December 5-6 at Lincoln, Nebraska

UAB (26-7) vs. Missouri St. (23-12)

Liberty (25-8) vs. *No. 4 Nebraska (27-2)

 

Teams winning both matches will move on to regional play December 12 and 13. The  pre-determined regional sites are Fort Collins, Colorado; University Park, Pennsylvania; Austin, Texas; and Seattle, Washington.  The regional winners will advance to the semifinals and final hosted by University of Nebraska, Lincoln and Omaha Sports Commission at Qwest Center Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska, on December 18 and 20.

For more information about the championship, log on to www.ncaa.com.