Volleyball Set For Postseason Clash Against Charleston
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami volleyball team will face the College of Charleston Thursday afternoon to begin participation in the 2017 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship.
The Hurricanes (21-5, 15-5 ACC), who finished tied for third in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings, will make their ninth postseason appearance in program history and fourth under current head coach Jose “Keno” Gandara. Miami is 4-8 all time in the NCAA Championship with the last win victory coming in the opening round against UCF in 2014 in a match played in Gainesville. This year’s first round contest between the Canes and Cougars is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the Exactech Arena in the O’Connell Center and will be broadcast on ESPN 3.
“We are not looking at the College of Charleston lightly, because every team left in the NCAA at this point is a great team,” said redshirt junior setter Haley Templeton, one of the seven Hurricanes with NCAA Championship experience and one of the two All-ACC First Team honorees. “We are just focusing on them right now in order to play our best and do what we do best to beat them.”
Templeton has already tasted victory at the NCAA stage after starting in the win against the Knights two years ago and picking up 52 assists. Senior libero Sylvia Hernandez, who leads the Canes with 407 digs and reached the 100 assists mark on the final weekend of regular season, was the other current Miami player who took part in that victory.
Thursday’s matchup will mark five years to the day since the Canes last met the Cougars. In 2012, the Canes dropped a closely fought five-set match to the Cougars in the same stage of the competition. Miami leads the all-time series 3-1.
Five other players on the Hurricanes’ roster have NCAA tournament experience after making the team’s last postseason trip in 2015. Those include the 2017 ACC Player of the Year and All-ACC First Team selection Olga Strantzali and the team’s two leading blockers, junior Lucia Pampana and senior Sakile Simmons.
“I’m really excited. Last year we didn’t make the tournament, so it’s a really big deal for us,” Strantzali said. “It’s always fun to play with the best teams in the country and against them, so we are going to have fun this week.
“We didn’t have a lot of experience last year, we were a very young team, but this year we have a lot of senior who have helped the freshmen and the sophomores that we have. We all play together and we had a great [regular] season.”
Charleston (27-5, 15-1) made Colonial Athletic Association history this season, becoming the first team from the conference to earn an at-large bid. After losing only one CAA match in conference play, the Cougars made a run all the way to the championship match, which they dropped to third-seeded James Madison. That defeat ended a 15-match win streak for the Cougars.
“We need to come out and serve well and pass well,” Templeton said on how the Hurricanes could extend their own six-match win streak. “After that, we can run our offense.”
The winner of the 4:30 p.m. matchup, which features Miami and Charleston, will take on the Florida-Alabama State winner on Friday night at 7 p.m.
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