Jackson State Heads West for NCAA Tournament
SWAC.org
Courtesy of Jackson State University Sports Information
After earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I playoffs, SWAC tournament champion Jackson State University (26-9) will head to Lincoln, Neb. to face the second-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers (23-3) on Thursday.
Click here for the interactive bracket
INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Committee announced today the 64-team field for the 2011 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 University of Texas at Austin; No. 2 University of Nebraska, Lincoln; No. 3 University of Illinois, Champaign; and No. 4 Iowa State University.
Per the established bracketing principles the top 16 seeds were provided the opportunity to host. In addition, first- and second-round conference matchups were avoided and team pairings were determined by geographical proximity.
The Big Ten Conference led all conferences with eight teams selected. The Big 12 Conference and the Pacific-12 Conference both have seven teams in the tournament. Two teams, Penn State University and Stanford University have earned bids to all 31 championships. Five teams are making their initial appearances in the tournament: Central Michigan University, Jackson State University, Marquette University, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore and Samford University.
In the 30-year history of the championship, 10 schools have been crowned champion, nine of which are in this year's bracket, including four-time 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 06), University of Southern California (1981, 2002, 03), Penn State (1999, 2007, 08, 09 and 10), 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.
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY REGIONAL
December 2-3 at Austin, Texas
No. 1 Texas (22-4) vs. Texas St. (27-7)
Michigan St. (21-11) vs. Arizona (19-12)
December 1-2 at College Station, Texas
Kentucky (26-5) vs. Dayton (25-6)
Lipscomb (20-10) vs. No. 16 Texas A&M (22-7)
December 2-3 at Los Angeles, California
No. 9 UCLA (24-6) vs. Md.-East. Shore (24-6)
Long Beach St. (23-6) vs. San Diego (27-4)
December 2-3 at University Park, Pennsylvania
Delaware (20-12) vs. American (23-10)
Liberty (20-12) vs. No. 8 Penn St. (23-7)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA REGIONAL
December 2-3 at West Lafayette, Indiana
No. 5 Purdue (27-4) vs. Morehead St. (26-7)
Ball St. (25-7) vs. Louisville (23-8)
December 2-3 at Tallahassee, Florida
Cincinnati (26-9) vs. Samford (29-4)
Albany (NY) (21-8) vs. No. 12 Florida St. (24-6)
December 2-3 at Minneapolis, Minnesota
No. 13 Minnesota (18-11) vs. North Dakota St. (25-8)
Western Mich. (24-8) vs. Washington (23-7)
December 2-3 at Ames, Iowa
Northern Ill. (28-6) vs. Miami (FL) (25-4)
Milwaukee (25-4) vs. No. 4 Iowa St. (22-5)
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA REGIONAL
December 2-3 at Champaign, Illinois
No. 3 Illinois (27-4) vs. Central Mich. (19-13)
Marquette (23-10) vs. Western Ky. (31-3)
December 1-2 at Knoxville, Tennessee
Ohio St. (19-14) vs. Middle Tenn. (21-11)
Duke (21-8) vs. No. 14 Tennessee (27-3)
December 2-3 at Stanford, California
No. 11 Stanford (21-7) vs. Sacred Heart (27-7)
Baylor (18-14) vs. Michigan (20-12)
December 2-3 at Cedar Falls, Iowa
Florida (24-5) vs. Missouri (21-12)
Niagara (25-8) vs. No. 6 UNI (32-1)
HONOLULU, HAWAII REGIONAL
December 2-3 at Los Angeles, California
No. 7 Southern California (25-4) vs. Yale (18-6)
Tulsa (27-6) vs. Oklahoma (21-11)
December 1-2 at Honolulu, Hawaii
Oregon (21-9) vs. Colorado St. (23-5)
Northern Colo. (22-8) vs. No. 10 Hawaii (29-1)
December 1-2 at Malibu, California
No. 15 Pepperdine (22-6) vs. Missouri St. (22-8)
North Carolina (23-8) vs. California (26-6)
Dec. 1-2 at Lincoln, Nebraska
Kansas St. (20-10) vs. Wichita St. (20-10)
Jackson St. (26-9) vs. No. 2 Nebraska (24-4)
Teams winning both matches will move on to regional play December 9 and 10. The pre-determined regional sites are Gainesville, Florida; Honolulu, Hawaii; Lexington, Kentucky; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. All regional semifinal games will be shown on ESPN3.com. Regional final games will air on ESPNU.
The regional winners will advance to the semifinals and final hosted by the University of Texas at San Antonio, and San Antonio Sports at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, on December 15 and 17. Both national semifinal games as well as the championship game will be broadcast by ESPN2. All regional and championship site game times can be found on the attached championship bracket or online at www.ncaa.com/wvb.