UND to play Minnesota in first round of NCAA volleyball tournament

JMU volleyball (21-10) will play Coastal Carolina University (27-4) in the NCAA tournament.

The victor between Nebraska (27-2) and New Hampshire (21-10) plays Saturday in Lincoln against Wichita State (24-7) or TCU (14-12). The other national seeds in the Huskers’ section of the bracket are No. 8 Washington, No. 9 Michigan State and No. 16 Penn State.

“I feel bad for the girls”, he said. “One was to get a top-four seed and we’re planning on trying to play as well as we can possibly play”. “You just get a toughness about you that you’re just going to continue to grind and finish this thing out. I’m exhausted of it”.

Last year, the Wildcats were swept by then No. 11 Florida in Gainesville, Florida, in the first round of the tournament. That means play is regional and WSU faces regular trips to nearby powers such as Nebraska or Texas.

The Big Ten Conference landed the top three seeds, with Nebraska drawing the top seed and Minnesota being No. 2.

After Boise State won the Mountain West – snapping CSU’s streak of seven conference titles in a row – it left the Rams hoping the MW would receive more than one NCAA tournament slot for the first time since 2012. The Cougars had four opponents in common with Marquette this season, and both squads went 4-0 in those matches.

“We know those teams”, coach John Cook said. “A lot of people overlook us – we’re not in a Power Five conference”.

The Pac-12 owns a record 14 NCAA Tournament titles in the sport of women’s volleyball and looks to add to that total.

Players, coaches and fans gathered at the Champions Club in Koch Arena gathered to watch the selection show on ESPNU.

“It was definitely interesting (being revealed early), but we’re excited to take on TCU”, senior outside hitter Jody Larson said. “We played great this last weekend”. A Baylor win probably puts the Bears safely into the field of 64; they were playing to extend their season, and Kansas held off a fierce rally in a hostile environment.

Creighton will play at Lawrence, Kansas, home to the Kansas Jayhawks.

The Golden Eagles (23-8) will travel to Madison, Wisconsin and host, No. 3 national seed Wisconsin, to face Washington State (21-11) in the first round on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 5 p.m. Nebraska is 98-30 (.766) in 34 previous NCAA Tournament appearances, ranking second among NCAA schools in wins and winning percentage.