Athletics

Women's volleyball seeded No. 11, will host NCAA Tournament first, second rounds

The women's volleyball team will host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament on Dec. 6-7 at Rec Hall on the University Park campus. Credit: Curtis Chan / Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The seventh-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team received the No. 11 overall seed in the 2019 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship and will host matches in the first and second rounds at Rec Hall on Friday and Saturday.

The Lions, who enter the postseason at 24-5 overall and finished tied for second in the Big Ten will host Ivy League champion Princeton in the first round at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 6. The other match will feature Patriot League champion American against CAA champion Towson at 5 p.m. The winners of each match will play each other on Saturday, Dec. 7. That match has a tentative start time of 6:30 p.m.

Penn State is playing in the NCAA Tournament for the 39th consecutive season. It joins Stanford as the only two programs to play in every NCAA Tournament, while Russ Rose is the only head coach to appear in all 39. Rose is also the all-time leader in NCAA Tournament wins with 101.

Princeton enters the postseason at 17-7 overall and already played one elimination game. The Tigers tied with Yale at 10-2 in the Ivy League and took down the Bulldogs in four sets in a one-match playoff to earn the conference's automatic berth.

American picked up an automatic bid thanks to its 16th Patriot League title in the last 19 years. The Eagles went 24-7 overall, including 3-1 wins over Navy and Army West Point in the conference tournament.

Towson was dominant in the CAA this season, rolling to a 28-2 overall record and a perfect 16-0 mark in league play. The Tigers secured their automatic bid with a 3-1 win over Elon in the semifinal round and a 3-0 victory over James Madison in the championship match of the CAA Tournament.

Penn State is 7-2 all-time against Princeton, with both losses coming all the way back in 1977. The teams haven't played since 2010. The Lions are unbeaten at 8-0 against American and are 1-0 against Towson.

All session are now on sale online at GoPSUSports.com, in person at the athletic ticket office at the BJC Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and by calling 1-800-NITTANY to purchase over the phone. Single session tickets will only be available at the door the night of each match/matches.

Last Updated December 2, 2019