Volleyball to host NCAA first and second rounds
AUSTIN, Texas -- The eighth-ranked Texas volleyball team will make its 23rd NCAA Tournament appearance this coming weekend when it hosts the first and second rounds of the 2006 NCAA Tournament at Gregory Gym for the third consecutive season. Texas (21-6, 16-4 Big 12) earned the No. 7 seed in the tournament and it will welcome Alabama, Stephen F. Austin and UT's first-round opponent, Prairie View A&M to Gregory Gym on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 1-2. Alabama will face Stephen F. Austin on Friday at 4:30 p.m. and the Longhorns will take on Prairie View at 6:30 p.m. or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. The winners of the two games will face off on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Tickets to the NCAA Tournament first and second rounds can be purchased at any Texas Box Office location beginning Monday, Nov. 27. All-session ticket packages are $6 (students) to $18 (reserved seating). Individual session tickets will go on sale beginning Friday. The winner of the Austin Sub-Regional will advance to the Austin Regional, where it will face the winner of the Madison, Wis. (University of Wisconsin) Sub-Regional in the NCAA "Sweet 16." Regional matches will be played Dec. 8-9. Texas earned one of 33 at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament, and was one of six teams from the Big 12 Conference to earn an invite. UT, which finished third in the conference standings, is joined by No. 1 national seed Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa State, Missouri and Oklahoma in the 64-team draw. The Longhorns have won 10-of-12 matches on their home floor this season and they have won 36 of their last 39 matches at Gregory dating back to 2003. Prairie View (23-10) earned an automatic bid to the tournament after winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference for the first time since 1999. Alabama (17-12, 11-7 SEC) also gained an at-large bid to the tournament after finishing in second place in the SEC Western Division. Stephen F. Austin (29-3, 16-0 Southland) earned the Southland Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after winning the league's annual tournament. In 2005, Texas earned its second straight bid to the NCAA Tournament after missing the tournament in 2003. Last season the Horns knocked off LSU, 3-0 in the first round before falling to seventh seeded Hawaii, 3-1 in the second round. Texas has been selected to host first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament 17 times and UT is 33-8 all-time in NCAA matches played in Austin. Texas is undefeated in first-round contests at 22-0.
|
|
