November 26, 2000
The 25th-ranked Texas A&M volleyball team (19-8) received its eighth consecutive at-large bid to the NCAA Championship and opens tournament play against the Houston Cougars (21-10), Friday, Dec. 1 in Stockton, Calif. First serve is at 7 p.m. (CST) at the A.G. Spanos Center on the University of the Pacific campus.
Oral Roberts (21-11) also will make the trip to Stockton to face host Pacific (26-3), the No. 2 seed in the Mideast Region, Friday at 9 p.m. The winners of the two first-round matches are slated to meet Saturday at 9 p.m. also at the Spanos Center.
"It's a great draw for us," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "It is a good setup where we meet Houston, a team we already defeated 3-0 here earlier this season. They are good competition and we can't overlook them. We have a good rivalry going with them and both teams will be up for the match.
"And then being in Stockton, home of some of our players and recruits. We always enjoy traveling to the west coast where we have many acquaintances and where volleyball is big and there is always a lot of enthusiasm."
The Aggies enter the tournament riding a two-match winning streak after sweeping both No. 22 Kansas State and Texas last week in College Station. Houston, an at-large participant representing Conference USA and making its 10th consecutive and 11thoverall appearance in the NCAAs, went 1-1 over the weekend, losing to NCAA tournament-bound Texas-San Antonio in four games and then sweeping LSU at the Houston Holiday Classic.
Oral Roberts of the Mid-Continent Conference and Pacific of the Big West Conference both received automatic bids by winning their conference titles. Oral Roberts is making its sixth consecutive and overall appearance in the tournament. Pacific, who was eliminated by Penn State in the semifinals last season, is one of four teams who have appeared in all 19 previous NCAA Women's Volleyball championships.
Texas A&M NCAA Tournament Notes: A&M is making its eighth consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament and its 12th overall appearance (1981, '82, '85, '86, '93, '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, '99 and 2000) since the inception of the tournament in 1981?...The Aggies sport a 12-11 (.522) all-time record in the NCAA tournament?...A&M's best finish in the NCAAs was last season when the Aggies advanced to the Elite Eight after sweeping both Stephen F. Austin and North Carolina in College Station and then upsetting No. 3 Hawaii, the top seed in the Mountain Regional, in four games in Honolulu before getting eliminated by sixth-ranked and Final Four-bound Long Beach State?...The Big 12 Conference ties the Big Ten and the Pac-10 for the largest representation with six teams being selected to the tournament ?" Colorado, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas A&M and Texas Tech?...A&M is 5-8 this season against teams in the 64-team field?...Six of the losses were to conference opponents, with the other two losses coming at the hands of then-No. 5 Hawaii and then-No. 1 UCLA in the season-opening Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic in Honolulu?...Four of the wins were against conference foes, with the other win being against Houston in the Aggies' home opener?...A&M finished the 2000 regular season with a 19-8 record and tied for second in the Big 12 with Missouri and Kansas State with a 14-6 mark in league play?...Stockton, Calif., is the hometown of Aggie starting setter Jenna Moscovic, as well as Carrie Moriera, who has signed a national letter of intent to play for A&M?...California also is the home state of Michelle Cole (Temecula), Brandi Mount (Saratoga), Tara Pulaski (Encinitas) and Julia Rex (Yorba Linda)?...The A&M roster lists four players from Houston: A.D. Achilefu, Christy Clark, Erin Gibson and Claire Harvey.
NCAA Tournament Notes: This is the third year the tournament has included 64 teams?...Sixteen first- and second-round matches will be played Nov. 30 - Dec. 3 on the campuses of participating institutions?...Winners will advance to four regional tournaments, also played on the campuses of participating institutions, Dec. 7-10?...The four regional winners will meet at the Final Four, Dec. 14 and 16 in Richmond, Va?...Penn State is the defending national champion?...Wisconsin is the No. 1 seed in the Mideast Region, Pacific is No. 2, UCLA is No. 3 and Pepperdine is No. 4?...For complete tournament bracket and information, visit the NCAA official website at www.NCAAChampionships.com.