@CanesVB Earns NCAA Tournament At-Large Bid
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami volleyball team is headed to the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
The Canes (19-11, 12-8 ACC) earned one of the 64 spots in the 2013 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball field and will be one of four teams participating in the Lincoln Regional, joining No. 8 seed Nebraska, Oregon and Fairfield. Miami will face Oregon in its first round game on Friday, Dec. 6, at 5:30 p.m. ET. All matches in the Lincoln Regional will be played at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on the University of Nebraska campus.
“It’s everything you work for throughout the season,” Miami head coach Jose “Keno” Gandara said. “I’ve always thought the ACC is a good conference that prepares you for the tournament. Clearly we did enough to persuade the committee to give us a chance.”
Miami, who finished fourth in the ACC, has now earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season and sixth time in program history. It is also the first postseason bid the Hurricanes have earned under Gandara.
“I think that speaks more about the program and the players in the program than me,” Gandara said. “I am excited about the progress the players have made. I feel like we are playing some of our best volleyball the last couple of weeks. I like the way the girls are training and I am excited to see if we can go out there and do it this weekend.”
The Hurricanes are part of a 16-team bracket that features defending champion and No. 1 overall seed Texas, as well as No. 8 Nebraska, No. 9 San Diego and No. 16 Duke.
The Canes, who hold a 3-5 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament, will make their second postseason trip to Nebraska. Miami’s best postseason run came in 2002 when the Hurricanes reached the Sweet 16 before falling to the Cornhuskers. Last season, the Hurricanes dropped their first round match against College of Charleston in five sets.
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