Huskers Host NCAA First and Second Rounds

The Nebraska volleyball team will spend the opening weekend of the postseason at home, as the NU Coliseum was chosen as one of 16 sites for NCAA first and second-round play this weekend. Nebraska will make its 27th NCAA Tournament appearance, and will go into NCAAs as the No. 4 overall seed among the 64 teams.

Action begins Friday, Dec. 5, at the NU Coliseum when the UAB Blazers (26-7) of Conference USA take on the Missouri State Bears (23-12) of the Missouri Valley Conference at 4:30 p.m. Nebraska (27-2) will play in the evening’s second match and will take on the Liberty Flames (25-8) of the Big South Conference beginning at 7 p.m. or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first match.

Nebraska has never faced Liberty or UAB, and has not played Missouri State since 1993. The Huskers and Bears have split their previous 30 matchups, but have played only once over the last two decades.

The second round will take place on Saturday, Dec. 6, at 5 p.m., as Friday’s winners will square off for a right to compete in the Seattle (Wash.) Regional. Tickets for the first and second rounds in Lincoln will go on sale tonight at 10 p.m. exclusively on Huskers.com. All-session prices are set at $32 (reserved) and $28 (general admission). Any tickets available after tonight’s sale will be available by calling the NU Ticket Office at 800-8-BIGRED beginning at 8 a.m. on Monday.

The four predetermined regional sites for 2008 are Austin, Texas (Texas), State College, Pa. (Penn State), Fort Collins, Colo. (Colorado State) and Seattle, Wash. (Washington). The 2008 NCAA Championships will take place at Qwest Center Omaha on Dec. 18 and 20. All-session and single-match tickets for the NCAA Championship are available on Ticketmaster.com or by calling any Ticketmaster outlet.

The 2008 season marks the 24th time that Lincoln has played host to first and second-round competition. Last year, Nebraska hosted the first and second rounds at the NU Coliseum before falling in the championship match of the Madison (Wis.) Regional. Nebraska is 73-23 (.760) in 26 previous NCAA Tournament appearances, ranking second among NCAA schools in wins and winning percentage.

The Huskers were one of four Big 12 schools to qualify for the tournament. In addition to the Huskers, Texas was the No. 3 seed overall and is joined in the tournament by Kansas State and Iowa State.

Nebraska Coach John Cook
General Thoughts
“It is awesome to be able to stay at home for the first and second round. It is always my biggest anxiety when they announce the bracket, especially since the NCAA has been trying to control travel costs. We are very happy and it is great for our kids to be in class and not have the stress of traveling this time of year. Hopefully, we will have two matches in the Coliseum and give our fans another treat as well. There are some great teams coming in and it should be fun.  <?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

On hosting:
“Knowing that you have the home crowd and emotion plays so much in results this time of year. For teams, having that is a big boost. We have a new lineup and having some opportunities to get that lineup to be smooth before we could have to go on the road.

On the seniors playing at home
It is like at Christmas, when you forgot about that one gift under the tree that you find at the last minute. For them, anytime you get to play in the Coliseum is special. Senior night was the emotional part of it and now, it about winning and advancing to play the next day. They have been through it and understand it, and know it’s a special treat to be in the Coliseum.

On the field:
I don’t think we’ve ever played Liberty, so that is a new team coming here. Missouri State won the Missouri Valley Conference, so they are hot right now. Geographically, it works out pretty good, but we have to take care of business against Liberty on Friday and feel good about how we are playing heading into the weekend.

2008 Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship

LEFT SIDE OF BRACKET

UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA REGIONAL

December 5-6 at University Park, Pennsylvania
*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)

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)

RIGHT SIDE OF BRACKET

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)

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)