The match against the Sun Devils will begin at 4:30 p.m. and will be followed by a first-round match-up between No. 2 seed Texas and Northwestern State. The two winners will meet in the second round, Friday at 8 p.m. at Gregory Gym, with the winner earning a berth into the Minneapolis Regional, Dec. 12-13.
A&M (21-8, 13-5 SEC), which closed out the regular season riding a six-match win streak to finish in a tie for fourth in the Southeastern Conference, is making its fourth consecutive and 22nd overall appearance in the NCAA tournament. This marks the Aggies' 18th appearance under 22nd-year head coach Laurie Corbelli, making A&M one of only 14 teams in the nation that has made at least 18 NCAA tournament appearances since she was hired in 1993.
Arizona State (19-13, 9-11 Pac 12) also received an at-large bid and is making its third consecutive and 18th overall appearance in the NCAA tournament. Jason Watson (BYU, 1995) is in his seventh season as the head coach of the Sun Devils.
A&M is 0-4 all-time against ASU, but the teams have not met since 1988.
Texas (23-2) is making its 11th consecutive and 31st overall NCAA tournament, having received an automatic bid by winning the Big 12 Conference title with a 15-1 record. Northwestern State (16-16) is making its first appearance in the tournament, receiving an automatic berth after winning the Southland Conference tournament championship.
Texas A&M NCAA Tournament Notes: A&M is making its 22nd overall appearance (1981, '82, '85, '86, '93, '94, '95, '96, '97, '98,' 99, 2000, '01, '02, '03, '04, '05, '09, '11, '12, '13, '14) since the inception of the tournament in 1981…A&M sports a 25-21 (.543) all-time record in the NCAA tournament, including a 23-17 (.575) mark during Corbelli's A&M tenure...This is the third consecutive year and the fifth time overall A&M's postseason run has gone through Austin (2014, '13, '12, 1993, '85)…A&M's best finish in an NCAA tournament was a regional final appearance in both 1999 and 2001…A&M went 1-1 in the tournament last year in Austin, defeating UTSA, 3-0, in the first round and falling to former Big 12-rival Texas, 3-1, in the second round…The SEC landed five teams in the tournament field: No. 8 seed Florida, No. 13 seed Kentucky, Alabama, LSU and Texas A&M…Florida earned the SEC's automatic bid by winning the conference title with an 18-0 record...The Aggies are 4-6 this year against teams in the NCAA tournament field.
NCAA Tournament Notes: Thirty-two conferences were awarded automatic qualification, and the remaining 32 slots were filled with at-large selections to complete the bracket...The top 16 teams were seeded nationally and placed within four regions...Sixteen first-and second-round matches will be played Dec. 4-5 or 5-6 on the campuses of participating institutions...Winners will advance to four predetermined regional sites: Ames, Iowa, Louisville, Ky., Minneapolis and Seattle...The four regional winners will meet at the Final Four, to be held at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Okla., Dec. 18 and 20...Stanford is the No. 1 seed in the 64-team bracket…Penn State is the defending national champion.
For complete tournament bracket and information, visit the NCAA official Website at www.NCAAsports.com.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M volleyball. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M volleyball team on Facebook and on Twitter by following @AggieVolleyball.
Texas A&M Coach Laurie Corbelli quotes:
On facing Arizona State in the first round…
“It's exciting. Arizona State is a really good team. We are really excited to face a Pac 12 team. We have seen them a little bit because they were playing an opponent that we played back in September, and so we do have a little video of them to kind of get familiar. All teams are different from September, but we will be able to get familiar with them through that.”
On finishing strong and where she saw the team's biggest improvement…
“I think they just got better at working together. It's such an intricate team game, and it was pretty choppy early on. We were kind of playing one-on-six a lot, and I think they just really got to know the nuances of the game with the players who are next to them in rotations and how they respond and how they react to different situations and different strategies on the court. That's just kind of a product of just being together for three-and-a-half months of practice and training and travel and playing and competing and winning. They are very excited to come to training these days. They've loved November. It's been a great month for us. We are just really excited to get to play in the tournament again and hope to go further than we have ever gone.”
On being sent to Austin for a third consecutive year…
“I completely expected it. We kind of know now that the committee is really protecting the expenses of the tournament and if we were a top-16 seed, we probably get our own little bracket, our own hosting site possibly. We just have to continue to work to take care of that. Our RPI was 19 this year and last year wasn't too far off, and so I completely expected Austin. I figure that I will have to expect it if we don't have a top 16 RPI in future years.”
On the advantages of going to Austin again…
“The great part about it is we are very familiar. It is an easy trip. We can have Aggie fans; we can have family there. We know the team well. We have played them the last two years. It's familiar. There are a lot of good things to be said about that. We are going to get in the gym and train and get our scout report going and do our best to make it happen this year for us.”