NCAA Tournament: Kansas Selected to Host First and Second Rounds
Nov. 25, 2012
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LAWRENCE, Kan. – The 20th-ranked Kansas volleyball team was named the overall No. 11 seed, and will serve as an NCAA First and Second Round host for the first time in school history, Nov. 30 – Dec. 1 in Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks will welcome Cleveland State, Wichita State and Arkansas to Lawrence and will face the Vikings of CSU in the first round, Friday at 6:30 p.m. The winner will advance to the Austin, Texas Regional, Dec. 7-8.
NCAA First & Second Round Schedule (Lawrence, Kan.)
Match 1: Friday, Nov. 30, 4 p.m.: (3) Wichita State vs. (2) Arkansas
Match 2: Friday, Nov. 30, 6:30 p.m.: (4) Cleveland State vs. (1) Kansas
Match 3: Saturday, Dec. 1, 6:30 p.m.: Match 1 Winner vs. Match 2 Winner
ABOUT CLEVELAND STATE
The Vikings finished the season 23-6 overall with a 13-1 record in the Horizon League to claim the regular season conference title. CSU went on to lock up its bid by winning the Horizon League Championship last Sunday over UIC, sending the Vikings to Lawrence riding a 13-match win streak.
Led by 13-year head coach Chuck Voss, Cleveland State is making its second trip to the NCAA Tournament and its first appearance since the 2007 season.
FOLLOW THE TOURNAMENT
Each of the Lawrence, Kan. first and second round matches will webstream live on NCAA.com and KUAthletics.com free of charge. Coverage updates will be provided later in the week and by following JayhawkVball on Twitter.
SELECTION PROCESS
The Division I Women’s Volleyball Committee selected the 64-team field from 328 NCAA Division I institutions that sponsor women’s volleyball. Kansas was one of 33 teams to receive an at-large bid. The other 31 teams were automatic qualifiers. Five Big 12 teams earned bids: No. 3 Texas, No. 11 Kansas, No. 15 Iowa State, Kansas State and Oklahoma.
FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS
First and second round competition of the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship will be held at 16 campus sites Nov. 29-30 or Nov. 30-Dec. 1, including Lawrence. Winners advance to four regional tournaments.
REGIONALS
Regionals for the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship will be held Dec. 7-8. The four predetermined sites are: Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif., CenturyLink Center Omaha in Omaha, Neb., Gregory Gymnasium in Austin, Texas, and Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. Each quarterfinal winner will advance to semifinal action of the 2012 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship in Louisville, Ky., on Dec. 13.
CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2012 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship will be held at the KFC YUM! Center in Louisville, Ky., for the first time. Quarterfinal winners will compete in semifinal matches held Dec. 13 at 7 or 9 p.m. ET. The national championship match of the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball will be played 7 p.m. ET, Dec. 15.
KANSAS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Jayhawks are making their fourth all-time NCAA Tournament appearance, all under 15-year head coach Ray Bechard. Kansas is 2-3 all-time in the postseason and making its first appearance since earning three-straight bids from 2003-05.
2003 (1-1): In its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance Kansas swept Long Beach State in the first round match in Malibu, Calif. In the second round, top-seeded Pepperdine won its 25th-straight match that season to knock KU out of the tournament.
2004 (1-1): Kansas defeated Santa Clara in four sets in the first round in Seattle, Wash. In the second round, KU came back from an 0-2 deficit but fell in five sets to Washington.
2005: (0-1): After a 15-15 season, an injury depleted Jayhawk roster fell in the first round to UCLA, 3-1.
2012 AT A GLANCE
-Kansas played 15 matches against 11 teams included in this season’s NCAA Tournament field, going 10-5 in those matches.
-Kansas finished the 2012 regular season 25-6 overall and 12-4 in the Big 12, marking the first time a Kansas squad has won 25 matches since the 1991 season – and the Jayhawks would do so in only 31 matches rather than 35 like the 1991 team.
-KU finished third in the Big 12 standings, its highest finish in conference history. The Jayhawks’ 12 league wins are the second-most in the Big 12 era (13-7, 2003).
-At 25-6, KU broke a 26-year old program record for best winning percentage in a season at Kansas (.806). The 1986 team previously held the record (26-9, .743)
-The Jayhawks broke their program-best RPI mark as they jumped to No. 6 in this week’s projections (Nov. 19). KU has now been in the RPI’s top-10 six of eight weekly projections. In 2012, Kansas is 10-6 against top-50 RPI teams and 16-6 against the top-100.
-KU ranks No. 20 on the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division I Coaches poll (Nov. 19). Four Big 12 members hold spots in the nation’s top-25: No. 3 Texas, No. 18 Iowa State, No. 20 Kansas and No. 25 Kansas State. KU has been in the top-25 for eight-straight weeks. KU is 6-3 this season against teams in the top-25 or receiving votes.
REGION-BY-REGION BREAKDOWN
**Teams in Italics represent 2012 KU opponents
WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA REGIONAL
November 30-December 1 at University Park, Pennsylvania
No. 1 Penn St. vs. Binghamton
Yale vs. Bowling Green
November 30-December 1 at Lexington, Kentucky
Ohio St. vs. Notre Dame
East Tenn. St. vs. No. 16 Kentucky
November 30-December 1 at Tallahassee, Florida
No. 9 Florida St. vs. Hofstra
Colorado St. vs. Purdue
November 30-December 1 at Minneapolis, Minnesota
Creighton vs. Marquette
Liberty vs. No. 8 Minnesota
OMAHA, NEBRASKA REGIONAL
November 30-December 1 at Eugene, Oregon
No. 5 Oregon vs. Northern Colo.
Pepperdine vs. Dayton
November 30-December 1 at Provo, Utah
Oklahoma vs. Arizona St.
New Mexico St. vs. No. 12 BYU
November 30-December 1 at Seattle, Washington
No. 13 Washington vs. Central Ark.
Santa Clara vs. Hawaii
November 29-30 at Lincoln, Nebraska
Kansas St. vs. UNI
UMES vs. No. 4 Nebraska
AUSTIN, TEXAS REGIONAL
November 29-30 at Austin, Texas
No. 3 Texas vs. Colgate
North Carolina St. vs. Texas A&M
November 30-December 1 at Gainesville, Florida
Miami (FL) vs. Col. of Charleston
Tulsa vs. No. 14 Florida
November 30-December 1 at Lawrence, Kansas
No. 11 Kansas vs. Cleveland St.
Wichita St. vs. Arkansas
November 29-30 at Los Angeles, California
St. Mary’s (CA) vs. San Diego St.
Fairfield vs. No. 6 Southern California
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA REGIONAL
November 30-December 1 at Los Angeles, California
No. 7 UCLA vs. LIU Brooklyn
Michigan St. vs. San Diego
November 29-30 at Louisville, Kentucky
Tennessee vs. Michigan
Belmont vs. No. 10 Louisville
November 29-30 at Ames, Iowa
No. 15 Iowa St. vs. IPFW
California vs. North Carolina
November 30-December 1 at Stanford, California
Western Ky. vs. Loyola Marymount
Jackson St. vs. No. 2 Stanford
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