Nittany Lion's fourth consecutive women's volleyball conference crown marks Penn State athletic's 50th league title since joining Big Ten
University Park, Pa. -- The Big Ten Champion Penn State women's volleyball team (29-2) earned the No. 3 overall seed in the 2006 NCAA Tournament and will host Long Island (25-10) in the first round on Friday, Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m. at Rec Hall. The other first round match on Friday will feature Cornell (18-8) and Hofstra (23-6) at 5 p.m. The winners of each of the first round matches will square off in the second round on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. at Rec Hall.
"The bracket is what it is," said head coach Russ Rose. "We appreciate the university putting in a bid to host the first and second rounds and I hope we can improve our level of play to be able to compete and advance as far as we can into the tournament."
The Nittany Lions will be making their 26th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament and are one of only three programs in the nation (Stanford, UC Santa Barbara) to be selected to every postseason event since its inception in 1981.
Penn State is one of seven Big Ten teams to make the tournament cut. In a 64-team field where only the top 16 teams are seeded, the Nittany Lions join No. 8 Minnesota (23-7), No. 10 Wisconsin (24-6), No. 11 Ohio State (23-7), No. 14 Purdue (21-10), Michigan (21-12) and Michigan State (19-11), with the Boilermakers and Badgers also hosting initial rounds.
The Nittany Lions have earned the right to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament 20 times since 1981, including the last 17 seasons. Penn State has compiled an overall record of 45-24 in the event, including five trips to the NCAA Semifinals (1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999) and one National Championship (1999). Penn State is 30-3 in NCAA Tournament matches at Rec Hall.
The winner of the Penn State first and second round NCAA site will travel to Seattle, Wash., for the NCAA Regionals, hosted by the University of Washington on Dec. 8-9 at the Bank of America Arena. The Penn State site winner will play the site winner from West Lafayette, Ind., which features No. 14-seed Purdue, St. Louis, Ohio and Kentucky in one Regional Semifinal match. The other Regional Semifinal match will feature the Louisville, Ky., site winner (No. 11-seed Ohio State, Belmont, Middle Tennessee, Louisville) and the Boulder, Colo., site winner (sixth-seed Washington, Colorado State, New Mexico State, Colorado).
The winners from each of the four Regional sites (Seattle, Wash., Gainesville, Fla., Austin, Texas, Honolulu, Hawaii) will advance to the NCAA National Semifinal, to be held on Thursday, Dec. 14 at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb., with the National Championship match slated for Saturday, Dec. 16.
ALL SESSION tickets for the First and Second round MUST be purchased at the Bryce Jordan Center Ticket Office or by calling 814-865-5555 or 1-800-833-5533 up until 4:00 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 1. All session tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for senior citizens, youth and students with a valid college or university ID. SINGLE SESSION tickets WILL ONLY be available at Rec Hall on Friday and Saturday and are $7 for adults and $5 for senior citizens, youth and students.
The Nittany Lions captured their fourth consecutive and 10th overall Big Ten title with wins over Illinois and Northwestern last weekend. Not only was the crown the 50th overall Big Ten title for Penn State Athletics since starting Big Ten competition in 1991-92, but the women's volleyball program also made league history by becoming the first team to win four consecutive outright conference titles. The Nittany Lions also captured four consecutive Big Ten titles from 1996-99 but shared the 1996 crown with Michigan State and the 1997 title with Wisconsin. The only other program to win more than two consecutive league titles was Illinois, whose 1986-88 teams captured three solo titles.
Seattle, Wash., Regional Pairings:
December 1-2 at Penn State
Cornell (18-8) vs. Hofstra (23-6)
Long Island (25-10) vs. Penn State (29-2)
November 30-December 1 at Purdue
Kentucky (18-11) vs. Ohio (28-4)
St. Louis (22-8) vs. Purdue (21-10)
December 1-2 at Louisville
Ohio State (23-7) vs. Belmont (24-6)
Middle Tennessee (26-7) vs. Louisville (25-6)
November 30-December 1 at Colorado
Colorado (16-11) vs. New Mexico State (33-3)
Colorado State (20-9) vs. Washington (25-4)
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.