Nov. 27, 2000

By Renee Carlson
The Coloradoan

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The bar has been raised.

No longer is the Colorado State University volleyball team satisfied to simply make the 64-team NCAA Tournament. No, the Rams expect more.

They got it Sunday night, when this year's field was announced. CSU was chosen as one of 16 teams across the nation to host first- and second-round matches. The Rams will play Radford at 8 p.m. Friday at Moby Arena.

The other match, beginning at 6 p.m. Friday, features the University of Colorado vs. Georgia Tech, with the winners advancing to play at 7 p.m. Saturday at Moby.

Tickets will go on sale at 8 this morning at the CSU ticket office in the Fum McGraw Center. All-session passes are $12 for adults and $6 for youths ages 3-18. Single-match tickets can only be bought immediately before the matches and cost $8 for adults and $5 for youths.

This is a school-record sixth straight year the Rams made the NCAA Tournament field, and the second straight that they have been picked to host matches.

"This is great," said CSU's Soraya Santos, who will be playing in her first Division I tournament after twice earning junior college All-American status. "When I saw our name on the bracket, I was so excited."

The Rams are the No. 2 seed in the Pacific region, which means they are one of the top eight teams in the field. If CSU, ranked sixth in the nation, wins both matches this week, the Rams likely will travel to the University of Southern California for the Sweet 16.

CSU coaches and players held an outside hope Sunday that the 10-person volleyball tournament committee would give them one of the four No. 1 seeds in the bracket, which means they would get to host matches next week, too. But the Rams knew that their five-game loss Saturday night to No. 10 Pacific hurt their chances, and they were right.

Still, if Southern Cal loses this week, the Rams would be next in line to host the regional.