Dec. 2, 2005
By Ray Dise
Special to CSTV.com from CVU.com
December has come as have thoughts of the tree, but now it is time for the NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament from A to Z.
A is for Alabama, Alabama A&M, American, Arizona and Arkansas.
Alabama (23-10) is one of the four teams appearing in the NCAA tournament for the very first time (more details on the others as their letter comes up) and one of six Southeastern Conference (SEC) teams to receive an invite to the dance.
The Bulldogs of Alabama A&M (15-11) make their sixth consecutive appearance and as a "reward" they get the unenviable task of facing the top-seed, Nebraska, in the first round, which has them sitting on the doorstep of either the greatest upset in NCAA Division I women's tournament history or their sixth consecutive tournament without winning a match.
American (25-9) shares the same regional as the Bulldogs, but are on the other side of the bracket in the Lincoln, Nebraska, sub-regional. The Eagles have been the Patriot League's representative at the tournament for the last five years.
Arizona (22-5) is the highest seeded of the teams with names beginning with A, but that might be the only thing in favor of the Wildcats and their hope to get back to the NCAA semifinals for the first time since 2001. Arizona opens on the road in Utah State and then, if not upset there, they must play the Regional matches on the home floor of the No. 5 seed Stanford. Arizona won both matches with the Cardinal this year, but both went five games.
Another of the SEC teams, Arkansas (20-11), rounds out our look at A. The Razorbacks are in the tournament for the third consecutive year but have never won more than one match in any of their seven previous tournament appearances. Last year was the first year that Arkansas had ever lost a first round match.
B is for Binghamton and Brigham Young.
The Bearcats of Binghamton (20-11) are another team whose first time at the dance might feature a quick trip around the floor and an early exit as they have drawn the tournament's No. 2 seed Penn State. As America East champions, Binghamton is having one of the best seasons in school history and a win in State College would only further that.
The Cougars of Brigham Young (25-3) were undefeated for a large part of the season, not suffering a loss until November 4 in the 21st match of their season. Despite going 5-3 in the last eight matches of the season, BYU has exceeded expectations and hopes to continue to do so in the tournament.
C is for California, College of Charleston, Colorado, Colorado State, and Cornell. It is also for College Station, which is the regional where you will find four of these five teams. With the exception of Cornell (19-5), which is making its first tournament appearance in 12 years in the State College Regional at Penn State, the other four are very close in the bracket, especially Colorado (15-12) and Colorado State (20-8) who square off against each other in the first round.
College of Charleston (30-1) has the most victories of the C teams and California (18-10) travels the farthest of the teams with the letter C, having to go to Wisconsin.
D is for Dayton and Duke.
The Flyers (24-10) are in their third consecutive year of being in the tournament and are matched up against the No. 6 seed Notre Dame in the first round.
Duke (23-7) has 10 previous years of tournament experience, but with a record of 5-10, the Blue Devils have not had lots of tournament success. Duke is in its first tournament since 2002.
E is for Eight, which is one short of the number of teams that have won NCAA Division I women's volleyball titles. In the history of the tournament, which debuted in 1981, 182 different schools have received or earned invitations. Since only nine schools have won a title, it means the previous 24 titles are shared by 4.9% of the teams who have competed for them.
F is for Florida, not just the school but the state, since the state, Gainesville specifically, will have all three of the Florida teams in the tournament at a single sub-regional.
The University of Florida (30-2), the tournament's eighth seed, hosts Florida Atlantic (29-2) in its first round match and will also host Florida A&M (22-5) for the Rattlers' contest against Kansas State.
G is for Gold, the color of the championship trophy to be handed to the winning team on December 17 in San Antonio, Texas.
H is for hosting, Hawai'i and home. None of which can be found in the same sentence except for the previous one because the Wahine (25-6), despite being the No. 7 seed in the tournament, have a trip to Austin, Texas and the prospect of facing the Longhorns, who defeated Hawai'i in the 1988 National Championship match, on their home floor where the Longhorns have been perfect this year.
I is for Invincible, which many think Nebraska is in this tournament but can also be the Roman numeral one, which is the number of losses it takes to go from invincible to spectator.
J is for Jacksonville State, the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) champion and first time dancer. The Gamecocks (19-10) visit neighboring state Tennessee and the Volunteers for their first taste of tournament play.
K is for Kansas, Kansas State and Kentucky.
Kentucky (17-11) is making its first tournament appearance since 1993 and joins Cornell as the teams that have gone the second longest time between tournament visits at 12 years each.
The Jayhawks (15-14) have not failed to win a tournament match in their previous two tournament appearances, but face the tough challenge of drawing the 16th seed of the tournament in UCLA.
Kansas State (20-10), one of seven Big 12 schools that are in the tournament, has a record of 10-9 in tournament play and has qualified for the tournament every year since 1996.
L is for two Longs (Long Beach State and Long Island University), two Louises (Louisiana State and Louisville) and two Loyolas (Loyola-Chicago and Loyola Marymount).
Long Beach State (25-6) is a three-time champion and holds a record of 45-16 (.738) in tournament play. The 49ers' 45 victories are good for seventh all-time and their winning percentage is tied for third with Nebraska on the historical list.
The Blackbirds of LIU-Brooklyn are in the tournament for the second year and a row, are matched against Cornell in the opening round and are looking for their first ever NCAA tournament win.
It has been 13 long years since the LSU Tigers (21-7) have qualified for the NCAA dance and their first round match against Texas evokes memories of those times gone by. Back in 1992, Texas eliminated LSU from the tournament return the favor for 1990 when the Tigers eliminated the Longhorns.
Louisville (29-2) earned the No. 9 seed in the tournament and will host the other Kentucky schools (the University of Kentucky and Western Kentucky) that are in the tournament for the first and second round matches.
The Ramblers of Loyola-Chicago (13-17) are the only team with a loosing record that is in the tournament and has never won a tournament match in four previous appearances. Things don't look much brighter for Loyola-Chicago as they meet 11th-seeded Wisconsin in the opening round.
Loyola Marymount (19-10) has played in nine previous tournaments and three straight, but has a two match tournament losing streak to contend with as the Lions are in Utah to face the Utes.
M is for Marshall, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri and Missouri State.
Marshall (26-5) is not a newcomer to the tournament, but the first appearance for the Thundering Herd was so long ago, 10 years, that many might think this is the first appearance. Matched against Ohio State, the 13 seed, on the Buckeyes' home court, it could be a brief stay for Marshall. Hopefully it won't be another 10 years before they come again.
Maryland (27-4) shared the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) title with North Carolina but lost the automatic bid based on games lost to UNC. The Terrapins have won a match in each of their past three tournament appearances and are matched against Kentucky.
After back-to-back years when they finished third then second, the Minnesota Golden Gophers (24-7) face a tough road to repeat those feats. Minnesota has never lost an opening round match in its 10 previous years of tournament play and has a record of 21-10 (.677).
Every tournament bracket since 2000 has included Missouri (22-4) but the Tigers have only won two matches during those years. This season the Tigers host Missouri State (24-8) which hopes that the new name (previously know as Southwest Missouri State), will mean new results in the tournament. The Bears have never won a tournament match in four previous years of play.
N is for Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Northwestern and Notre Dame.
The Cornhuskers are the odds-on favorite to win their third National Championship and after a 28-1 season where they were perfect up until the last night of the regular season, one can understand why. Since winning the title in 2000, Nebraska has won at least two matches in each of the following tournaments with a record of 12-4 during that span. This is the second consecutive year that the Cornhuskers have been the top seed.
Nevada (18-12) is winless in its tournament history and with a visit to Stanford that trend looks to continue.
The Tar Heels (23-9) earned the right to host the sub-regional as the ACC champion and is returning to the tournament for the first time since 2002.
Northwestern (19-10) and Notre Dame (28-3) find themselves at the same sub-regional, hosted by the Irish, but on opposites sides of the bracket of four teams. The Wildcats earned their third bid in the last four years but have never won a tournament match and are 0-6 all-time heading into their match with Texas A&M.
Notre Dame is the tournament's No. 6 seed and as Big East champion earned its 14th consecutive bid into the field of 64. The Notre Dame sub-regional sets up an interesting second round match possibility as Notre Dame could face Texas A&M if the Irish get past Dayton and the Aggies are victorious over Northwestern. Texas A&M coach Laura Corbelli and Notre Dame coach Debbie Brown were teammates on the US National Team together and are such good friends that they go out of their way not to play each other in regular season tournaments.
O is for Ohio University and Ohio State.
Ohio (31-2) won its first ever tournament match last year and is hoping to improve upon its 1-1 showing in 2004. The Bobcats will be close to home as they travel to Columbus where Ohio State (21-8) is the regional host.
The Buckeyes are in the tournament for their 16th consecutive year holding a record of 23-15 (.605). They have finished tied for third twice (1991 and 1994).
P is for Penn State, Pepperdine, and Purdue.
The second-seeded Penn State Nittany Lions are 29-2 on the season and as the champions of the Big Ten Conference they have advanced to their 25th consecutive tournament. Stanford and UC Santa Barbara are the only other two schools who have the same distinction. Penn State has won the National Championship once (1999), has finished second three times (1993, 1997, and 1998), and finished tied for third once (1994).
Pepperdine (17-11) missed the tournament field last year but is back this year and is faced against Brigham Young in a match in Los Angeles that has a lot of echoes of the men's game. The men's teams from Pepperdine and BYU are the last two men's national champions.
Purdue (23-8) is the tournament's 14th seed and looking to advance to beyond the second round of the tournament for the first time since 1982 when they were eliminated in the Midwest Regional finals.
Q is for Quality and quality volleyball is what one will see in most of the 63 matches of the tournament to be played over the next three weekends.
R is for road trips. While most of the top seeds are staying at home, four of them, No. 3 Washington, No. 4 Arizona, No. 7 Hawaii, and No. 14 Purdue, are on the road. And the more those teams win the farther they will have to travel.
S is for Sacramento State, Saint Mary's, San Diego, Santa Clara, Siena, Southern California, and Stanford.
With the exception of Siena College (20-11), which hails from New York, all of these teams are from California and all of them have had tournament victories. Siena hasn't been to the tournament since 1995 and is faced up against Washington in Fort Collins, Colo.
Sacramento State (26-8), Saint Mary's (19-9), and Santa Clara (23-4) haven't had much success in the tournament, with none of those schools having won more than two matches in tournament history.
San Diego (22-5) has won seven matches in its nine previous years of tournament play, winning two matches last year.
Stanford (25-5) and Southern Cal (16-10) are two of the finest schools in NCAA Women's Division I tournament play. Between the two of them they have won nine titles (Stanford 6, USC 3), finished second six times (Stanford 5, USC 1), finished third six times (Stanford 3, USC 3), and won 125 matches (Stanford 76, USC 49). Their winning percentages (Stanford .800, USC .721) are numbers one and seven respectively on the all time list.
And the two teams are on a collision course. As the No. 5 seed and the No. 12 seed, Stanford and USC would meet in the first regional semifinal should they both survive their first and second round matches.
T is for Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas State.
Both UT's, Tennessee (21-8) and Texas (23-4), scored big wins on the last day of the regular season. The Volunteers downed Notre Dame 3-2 and the Lady Longhorns upended top-ranked Nebraska also by a 3-2 score. And both benefited by being hosts of their respective sub-regional matches. Tennessee earned the No. 15 seed in the tournament and while Texas was unseeded, their home-court advantage might have been a fair trade.
Texas A&M (16-13) is making its 13th consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament and holds a record of 20-16. Texas State (17-14) has never won a match during the tournament and will try for the fifth time to change that statistic.
U is for UC Santa Barbara, UCLA, Utah and Utah State.
While UCSB (21-8) has qualified for all 25 tournament fields, the Gauchos have not had the success that other programs have had with so many appearances. Of the three schools that have been to every NCAA tournament, UCSB is the only one that has not been to the NCAA Semifinals. Of the 12 schools that have played in the tournament 20 or more times, UCSB is the only one with a loosing record (21-24).
UCLA, on the other hand, has plenty of tournament success that it can point to. Entering the tournament as the No. 16 seed, the Bruins (18-10) are second in tournament wins (61) and second in winning percentage (.744). However, UCLA has not made it to the NCAA Semifinals since 1994, when it finished second overall.
Utah (22-8) and Utah State (21-12) have had similar fortunes at the tournament. While Utah State has been to the dance five fewer times, both teams have a record at or near .500. The Aggies are 2-2 and the Utes are 6-7. Both may also end up being eliminated by Arizona this year as the Wildcats face the Aggies in the first round then could meet sub-regional host Utah in the second round.
V is for Valparaiso and Virginia Commonwealth.
Valparaiso (27-7) has been to the tournament the last two years in a row and VCU (22-11) is a newcomer, but they both have one thing in common, neither has won a tournament match and unless both can find a way to pull upsets, against California and Purdue respectively, in the first round, then both will have to wait for another year to win their first tournament matches.
W is for Washington, Western Kentucky, Winthrop and Wisconsin.
Since losing to Stanford in the 2004 NCAA Semifinals, Washington (26-1) has only lost one match, a 3-2 defeat at the hands of UCLA on November 12. Since neither Stanford nor UCLA is on Washington's side of the bracket, the nations' No. 3 seed must feel good about the prospects of a trip to San Antonio.
Western Kentucky (31-2) returns to the tournament for the first time since 2002, when it made its debut, but being placed opposite Louisville in round one could mean a longer wait for NCAA tournament victory No. 1.
Winthrop (28-5) is making its fourth consecutive trip to the tournament; the three previous trips have not ended on a positive note. Trip number four probably won't either. The Eagles face Minnesota in the first round.
The last time Nebraska made it to the National Championship match (2000) Wisconsin did too. The Badgers (23-6) are the tournament's No. 11 seed and are looking to duplicate that run of 2000 but upset the hopes of Nebraska Coach John Cook, who used to guide the Badgers before his current tenure with the Cornhuskers.
X is the beginning of the Roman numeral XXV, which is 25 and that is the number of NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball tournaments that have been held. The silver anniversary of the championship will crown its champion in the Alamo City with the semifinals being played on December 15 and the title match on December 17.
Y because we love you, m-o-u-s-e.
Z is for Zero, which is the number of undefeated teams in the tournament and represents the sum of the number of wins that Alabama, Alabama A&M, American, Binghamton, College of Charleston, Cornell, Florida Atlantic, LIU, Loyola-Chicago, Marshall, Missouri State, Nevada, Northwestern, Siena, Texas State, Valparaiso, Virginia Commonwealth, Western Kentucky and Winthrop have accumulated in tournament history.
Ray Dise is the editor of College Volleyball Update and a regular contributor to CSTV.com. Email Ray your thoughts.
