Volleyball Earns NCAA Tournament Bid
November 30, 2003 | Volleyball
The University of Wisconsin volleyball team has qualified for its eighth consecutive and 12th overall NCAA tournament. The Badgers (21-10) will travel to College Station, Texas, for a first-round match vs. Arizona (17-14) on Friday. Host institution Texas A&M (21-9), which earned the No. 16 seed in the tournament field, will take on Nicholls State (18-14) in the other first-round match on Friday. The two first-round winners will play each other in the second round on Saturday.
'I can never predict the NCAA tournament pairings,' said UW coach Pete Waite, after the announcement. 'It's hard to understand why some people host. I actually thought we might stay and have to play against a Big Ten team ' maybe Minnesota or at Illinois. But we're traveling now, that surprises me.'
Wisconsin will face Arizona for the first time in program history and will also play in College Station for the first time ever.
The 21st-ranked Wildcats tied for fifth in the Pacific-10 Conference standings at 10-8. Sophomore Kim Glass, a 6-2 outside hitter, ranks among the top players in the nation with 5.62 kills per game.
'This is a chance to go against a great team,' said Waite of the Wildcats. 'Arizona is an awesome team and they play in the Pac-10, which is very, very tough this year. They have Kim Glass, who has had an amazing career and she's only a sophomore. She's going to be a key to stop.'
The Big Ten Conference landed seven schools in the tournament, the most for any conference, with league-champion Penn State leading the way. The Nittany Lions will host first and second-round matches as will Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan State. Michigan and Northwestern also earned post-season bids.
'That says a lot for the strength of the Big Ten,' said Waite. 'This was one of those years where we all beat up on each other. Even the conference champion, Penn State, had more losses than any champion in the past. I think that has us ready to go in tournament play. We've seen some tough teams and nothing will really bother us.
'It's kind of a nice, fresh start. Because in Big Ten play, you know each other so well. You know their tendencies and you can stop them in those things and there's huge rivalries. This is something that's totally new and fresh so it's exciting for our team that they haven't seen. '
