November 28, 2004
The Texas A&M volleyball team (18-8) received its 12th consecutive at-large berth to the NCAA Championship and will face Winthrop in the first round, the NCAA selection committee announced today.
The Aggies, who have hosted an NCAA tournament match in eight of coach Laurie Corbelli's 12 years at A&M, will face the Eagles Friday at 6:30 p.m. (CST) at Stokely Athletics Center on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville.
"We've been pretty spoiled in the past and have gotten to host a lot," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "But you just have to go with it. Certainly it would have been nice to have hosted again, but we have to go out on the road and really get the challenge of winning a first and second round on the road. It is a great challenge for our program, and one I hope we can step up to."
A&M, which is making its 16th overall appearance in the NCAA tournament, went 18-8 during the regular season and tied Missouri for third place in the Big 12 Conference with a 14-6 mark. Winthrop (31-3) earned its third consecutive automatic invitation to the NCAA tournament by winning the Big South Conference tournament. The Eagles are 0-3 all-time in the tournament.
The winner faces the winner between Tennessee (30-2) and Eastern Kentucky (27-4) on Saturday at 3 p.m. (CST) also in Knoxville. The second-round winner advances to the regional to be played in Minneapolis, Dec. 10-11.
Tennessee (30-2) is the No. 12 seed in the 64-team bracket and received an automatic bid by winning the Southeastern Conference tournament. Eastern Kentucky is 27-4 and making its second trip to the postseason ? its only other appearance was in 1984 -- after winning the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.
"Being on the road has been hard for us," Corbelli said. "We really have to buckle down and get acclimated as early as we can and really get our act together early. That's probably the biggest concern for all the coaches who have to travel to major sites and try to get wins. We will be very serious in our training and in our scouting, and hopefully the team will pull it all together for this championship season."
A&M, which ended the regular season with a three-game loss to top-seeded Nebraska, is making its 16th overall NCAA appearance. Last year, A&M was a No. 16 seed and swept Nicholls State and Wisconsin in College Station to advance to the regional finals, where the Aggies were eliminated by eventual national champion and No.-1 seed Southern California.
TEXAS A&M NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES: A&M is making its 12th consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament and its 16th overall appearance (1981, '82, '85, '86, '93, '94, '95, '96, '97, '98,' 99, '00, '01, '02, '03, 04) since the inception of the tournament in 1981...The Aggies, who have never lost an NCAA first-round match under 12th-year head coach Laurie Corbelli, sport a 19-15 (.549) all-time record in the NCAA tournament, including a 17-11 (.607) mark during Corbelli's A&M tenure...Last year A&M was the No. 16 seed and was selected to host first and second rounds. The Aggies swept both Nicholls State and Wisconsin to advance to the regional in Lincoln, Neb. The Aggies were eliminated in the regional semifinals by No. 1-seed Southern California, which went on to capture the national championship. It marked the third consecutive year the Aggies were eliminated by the eventual national champion, having fallen to USC in 2002 Stanford in 2001...The Big 12 and the Big Ten led all conferences with seven teams selected to the tournament field. The Big 12 is represented by No. 1 seed Nebraska, No 6 seed Texas, No. 16 seed Missouri, Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State and Texas A&M...Nebraska earned the Big 12's automatic bid by winning the conference title with a 20-0 record...The Aggies are 8-8 this year against the teams tournament field.
NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES: This is the seventh year the tournament has included 64 teams...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...Nebraska is the No. 1 seed...Sixteen first-and second-round matches will be played Dec 2-5 on the campuses of participating institutions...Winners will advance to four regional tournaments to be played in Louisville, Ken., Minneapolis, Green Bay, Wis., and Seattle, Dec. 10-11. This is the second year the regional sites have been predetermined...The four regional winners will meet at the Final Four, which is being hosted Long Beach State. The semifinal matches will be played Dec. 16 at Long Beach Arena. The championship match will be contested Dec. 18 at 3 p.m. (CT) and will be televised by ESPN2...For complete tournament bracket and information, visit the NCAA official Website at www.NCAAsports.com.