Miami Volleyball Heads to NCAA Tournament
Nov. 29, 2009
2009 NCAA Volleyball Tournament Bracket 
Coral Gables, Fla. – On Sunday afternoon, the University of Miami volleyball team received its second NCAA Tournament appearance with an at-large bid out of the Atlantic Coast Conference, as announced by the NCAA Selection Committee as part of the tournament selection show.
Miami (18-12) will meet cross-town rival FIU (31-3)–Sun Belt Conference regular season champions, in the opening round on Thursday, Dec. 3. Miami and FIU will square off in the first match of the day on Thursday at 5 p.m. ET. The second-round contest will be played Friday at 7 p.m. ET. All matches will take place on the UF campus inside the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
If Miami is victorious, the Hurricanes would face the winner of the day’s second match featuring the host University of Florida (23-5) and College of Charleston (18-12)–champions of the Southern Conference. Florida was awarded an at-large bid and is currently ranked No. 15 in the latest AVCA National Poll and was the last of the Top-16 teams to be seeded.
For the Hurricanes, this is the second NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch. Miami’s last trip to the NCAA Tournament ended with a trip to the Round of 16 in 2002. On their way to the “Sweet 16”, the Hurricanes upset Duke and 15th-ranked Wisconsin, before falling to No. 4 Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb.
The Hurricanes finished the 2009 regular season with an overall record of 18-12, and finished the ACC season at 11-9 and tied alongside North Carolina for fifth place. Miami finished the year winning three of its final five matches, and had a strong RPI in the low 40s as of Sunday morning.
An Atlantic Coast Conference record five league teams–highlighted by third overall seed Florida State–were selected to the 2009 NCAA Volleyball Championship. In addition to FSU, Duke, Georgia Tech, Clemson, and Miami earned at-large berths in this year’s tournament to become the first group of five teams to be selected to the NCAA championship in the 29-year history of volleyball in the ACC.
Florida State, Duke, and Clemson will be competing in the Minneapolis Regional bracket, while Georgia Tech and Miami reside in the Gainesville Regional bracket.
Defending National Champion Penn State received the tournament’s overall No. 1 seed with Texas earning the No. 2 seed, Florida State the No. 3 seed and Stanford the No. 4 seed. Regional competition will be held at predetermined sites on Dec. 11 & 12 with the semifinals set for Dec. 17 and the NCAA Championship match slated for Dec. 19 in Tampa, Fla.
For more information on the NCAA Tournament [Gainesville Regional], please click here.
For more information on the University of Miami Volleyball team, please log on to www.hurricanesports.com. Once there, you will find up-to-date news, stats and information regarding the Hurricanes Volleyball program.
