University of Tennessee Athletics
LADY VOLS SELECTED AS HOST SITE FOR NCAA VOLLEYBALL MATCHES
November 27, 2005 | Volleyball
Nov. 27, 2005
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee volleyball team (21-8) earned the 15th seed nationally for the NCAA Tournament and will play host to First and Second Round action on Friday and Saturday. The Lady Vols take on Jacksonville State (19-10) while the other Friday contest will see Minnesota (24-7) face Winthrop (28-5).
"We are very excited to be selected to the NCAA Tournament and especially to be hosting the First and Second Rounds and being able to stay at home," Head Coach Rob Patrick said. "We are looking forward to getting back into the gym and to prepare for our First Round match against Jacksonville State. It was nice to be seeded and I think the committee looked at our overall strength of schedule as well as our wins against top-10 teams Florida (seeded eighth, ranked fourth at the time) and Notre Dame (seeded sixth, ranked seventh at the time), as well as our very tough overall schedule.
The Lady Vols are playing host to NCAA Tournament play for the second consecutive year after last having an NCAA contest played in Knoxville in 1993. Last season, Tennessee claimed home wins over Eastern Kentucky (30-24, 30-16, 30-22) and Texas A&M (30-21, 24-30, 30-23, 32-30) before falling to Ohio State, 29-31, 27-30, 30-16, 30-26, 15-12, in a Regional Semifinal hosted by Minnesota.
Tennessee and Jacksonville State have only met once and the Lady Vols took the 15-7, 15-7, 15-10 win on Sept. 9, 2000, as part of the Toyota of Knoxville Lady Vol Classic.
Minnesota has topped the Lady Vols in all three meetings between the schools: 15-12, 11-15, 15-5, 15-5, in Boulder, Colo., on Sept. 4, 1993; 15-7, 14-16, 15-12, 15-9, on Sept. 9, 1994, in Chapel Hill, N.C.; and by 15-5, 15-5, 15-11 scores on Sept. 15, 2000, at the University of Minnesota Diet Coke Classic.
The Big Orange has taken three-of-five meetings versus Winthrop, winning the only match-up in the past 20 years on the road by 30-26, 31-29, 30-21 scores on Nov. 28, 2003. Winthrop took a match from UT in 1974, while the Big Orange earned a 2-1 record against the Eagles in 1973.
Tennessee has advanced to NCAA Tournament play on seven previous occasions, recording a 6-7 mark in those contests. The Lady Vols played in the Regional Semifinals in 2004, 1984, 1983 and 1982. Last season was the first time that UT had won two NCAA Tournament contests as it took one win to advance to that stage in the other three years.
Jacksonville State will be making its first NCAA Tournament appearance on Friday. The Gamecocks have won 10 in a row and claimed the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship.
Minnesota is making its 11th appearance in the field and has advanced to the Regional Semifinals in five of the past six seasons and the National Semifinals the past two years. In 2004, the Golden Gophers advanced to the national championship match before falling to Stanford, 30-23, 30-27, 30-21. This season, Minnesota finished third in the Big Ten with a 14-6 mark.
Winthrop played in Knoxville last year in NCAA play, falling to Texas A&M in the First Round by 30-26, 30-23, 30-25 scores. The Eagles have advanced to the NCAA Tournament three times, with those coming in the last three seasons, and are looking for their first NCAA win. Winthrop had a 22-match winning streak snapped by SEC member South Carolina (13-14) in its regular-season finale on Saturday, 30-18, 30-20, 30-24.
In the most-recently CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll (Nov. 21), Minnesota was 17th, while Tennessee was listed under "others receiving votes." In the RichKern.com RKPI ratings, a simulation of the RPI ratings used by the NCAA to select and seed teams for the NCAA Tournament, also last released on Nov. 26, the four teams playing in Knoxville were ranked as follows: No. 18 Tennessee, No. 22 Minnesota, No. 53 Winthrop and No. 126 Jacksonville State.
The winner of the weekend's contests will move on to University Park, Pa., and the Regionals hosted by Penn State from Dec. 9-10. The National Semifinals and Final takes place in San Antonio, Texas, on Dec. 15 and 17, respectively.
The Lady Vols enter the NCAA Tournament after earning one of its most historic victories in school history on Saturday with a dramatic comeback from a 2-0 games deficit to topple No. 7 (and the sixth seed nationally in the NCAA Tournament) Notre Dame (28-3), 26-30, 26-30, 30-28, 32-30, 15-9, in Notre Dame, Ind. It marked the first such comeback by UT since a 12-15, 9-15, 20-18, 15-8, 15-8 home victory over LSU on Sept. 27, 1996. Tennessee staved off two match points in game four at 29-28 and 30-29 to rally for the dramatic victory.
The Big Orange has earned two its biggest four wins in school history this season (when based on the national rankings of its opponents). UT topped No. 4 Florida, 30-22, 32-30, 19-30, 37-39, 15-12, on Oct. 30, 2005, for the first win in school history over a top-five foe. The Lady Vols previously defeated a pair of teams ranked seventh: Florida, 30-21, 23-30, 25-30, 31-29, 15-12, on Nov. 14, 2004; and Arizona, 15-11, 1-15, 15-13, on Nov. 5, 1982.
