No. 23 VB Ready for NCAA Tournament Opener
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – After earning an at-large bid for the fifth time inprogram history, the 23rd-ranked University of Miami volleyball teamwill take on College of Charleston in its opening round match of the NCAATournament Friday at 5 p.m. inside the O’Connell Center. It will be the firstof two contests in the Gainesville bracket at University of Florida.
Joiningthe Hurricanes in the bracket will be host and No. 14 overall seed Florida andTulsa, champions of the Southeastern Conference and Conference USA,respectively. The two first round winners will face off at 7:30 p.m. Saturdayfor the right to advance to the Austin Regional.
“Welook forward to preparing to play College of Charleston, knowing historicallythat [CofC head coach Jason Kepner] has done a great job with that program,”ACC Coach of the Year Nicole Lantagne Welch said. “Anyone can beat anyone inthe NCAA Tournament, so we will have to play at our best in order to win thisweekend.”
Miami(25-5, 17-3 ACC) finished second in the ACC, winning its most league matchessince joining the conference in 2004. Boasting six All-ACC selections, the Canes led theconference in opponent hitting percentage (.167), assists (13.32/set), kills(14.35/set) and blocks (2.91/set). UM won 15 of its last 17 to end the regular season.
Lastseason in the NCAA Tournament, the Hurricanes defeated Northern Illinois, 3-1,to advance to the second round. The program is 3-4 in four appearances, withthe best run coming in 2002 when the team advanced to the Sweet 16. UM hasplayed one match in program history at UF, in the 2009 NCAA Tournament againstFIU.
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. TheCougars will be making their seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament, with the lastappearance 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.
GatorVisionwill provide a free online stream of the match, with live stats also availablethrough links at HurricaneSports.com.
Forall the latest information on Miami Hurricanes volleyball, follow the officialTwitter feed, @CanesVB, or “Like Us” on Facebook atfacebook.com/MiamiHurricanes. In addition, the program is on Instagram (CanesVB).
