BYU TO COMPETE IN NCAA TOURNAMENT REGIONAL SEMIFINALS
For the first time since the 2000 season, No. 17 BYU is headed to the NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinals after a five-game upset victory over the No. 6 seed and then sixth-ranked Washington Huskies last Saturday. The 30-28, 28-30, 25-30, 30-22, 15-13 Cougar win was just the second loss of the year for Washington, the 2005 national champion, on its home floor as the Huskies became the highest-seeded team to lose in this year's tournament. With the win, the Cougars become the first MWC institution to advance to the regional semifinals of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament since Colorado State in 2003.
BYU will face No. 16 Middle Tennessee (35-2) on Friday, December 7, at 5 p.m. ET at Rec Hall on the campus of Penn State University in University Park, Pa. This will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools. The Blue Raiders advanced to the first Sweet 16 in school history with wins over Louisville and Hawai`i in the first and second rounds, respectively, last week in Louisville, Ky. The winner of the match will face the winner of No. 3 seed and top-ranked Penn State and Michigan, Saturday, December 8 at 7 p.m. ET.
NCAA TOURNAMENT FIRST AND SECOND ROUND RECAP
The Mountain West Conference went 3-2 during the opening weekend of the 2007 NCAA Division I Volleyball Tournament last week. In first-round action, 14th-seeded Colorado State swept past Illinois State in Ann Arbor, Mich., while BYU shut out Mississippi in Seattle Wash., and UNLV dropped a five-game match to 25th-ranked Long Beach State in Los Angeles, Calif. In second-round play, BYU upset the tournament's No. 6 seed Washington, 3-2, while the Rams fell to host Michigan in three games.
THE MWC IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
In the eight years since the inception of the Mountain West Conference, five teams (BYU, Colorado State, San Diego State, UNLV and Utah) have earned invitations to the NCAA Tournament, with four advancing to the Sweet 16. BYU has made it to the tourney 24 of the past 26 years, while Colorado State made its 13th straight appearance this season. Utah has made the tournament eight of the last nine years, while San Diego State has one appearance as a member of the MWC and UNLV earned its first-ever appearance this season. Overall, the Conference has a 25-25 record in NCAA Tournaments since the league was formed in 1999, including a 18-10 mark in first-round matches.
