No. 23 Volleyball Headed to Gainesville
INDIANAPOLIS – No. 23 Miami volleyball earneda bid to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season and will travel toGainesville, Fla., to take on College of Charleston in the first round Fridayat 5 p.m. The Gainesville bracket will be hosted by the University of Florida atthe O’Connell Center and will also include Tulsa.
Thebracket is in the Austin Region that contains national seeds No. 3 Texas, No. 6Southern California, No. 11 Kansas and No. 14 Florida.
“Iactually thought it was a pretty good probability that we would be sent toGainesville,” ACC Coach of the Year Nicole Lantagne Welch said. “We lookforward to preparing to play College of Charleston, knowing historically that[CofC head coach Jason Kepner] has done a great job with that program. Anyonecan beat anyone in the NCAA Tournament, so we will have to play at our best inorder to win this weekend.”
TheCanes, who hold a 3-4 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament, also traveled toGainesville in 2009. Last season, the team advanced to the second round afterdefeating Northern Illinois in the Ames bracket before falling to host IowaState. The best postseason run came in 2002 when Lantagne Welch led theHurricanes to the Sweet 16.
Thisyear, Miami (25-5, 17-3 ACC) recorded its most conference wins since joiningthe ACC in 2004 to finish in second place. Boasting six All-ACC selections, the Canes led the conference in opponent hitting percentage (.167), assists (13.32/set),kills (14.35/set) and blocks (2.91/set). The team went 4-0 in neutral sitematches and 8-5 on the road in the regular season.
Collegeof Charleston (26-7, 14-2 SoCon) earned the automatic bid out of the SouthernConference by defeating Furman in five sets in the championship match Monday.The Cougars will be making their seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament, with thelast appearance coming in 2009. Miami leads the all-time series against CofC,3-0, but the two teams have not met on the volleyball court since 1979.
HostFlorida (25-4, 19-1 SEC) won the Southeastern Conference for the 20thtime under head coach Mary Wise this season. The Gators have been ranked ashigh No. 11 in the AVCA Poll and are fifth in the nation with a .301 teamhitting percentage. UF and UM have only met eight times in history, with thelast meeting coming in 1978.
Tulsa(26-9, 14-2 C-USA) won the Conference USA Tournament to earn an automatic bid, qualifyingfor the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. The Golden Hurricane will play Florida Fridayat 7:30 p.m. in the first round. Miami defeated Tulsa, 3-0, in the only meetingbetween the programs in 2001.
In additionto Miami, Florida State, North Carolina and NC State will represent the ACC inthe postseason. The Big Ten and Pac-12 led all conferences with seven teamseach, as Penn St. and Stanford are the top two national seeds.
Forall the latest information on Miami Hurricanes volleyball, follow the officialTwitter feed, @CanesVB, or “Like Us” on Facebook at facebook.com/MiamiHurricanes.In addition, the program is on Instagram (CanesVB).
