Nov. 25, 2007

NCAA Bracket

Quotes

SEATTLE - The sixth-ranked Washington volleyball team received a welcome surprise on Sunday evening after being selected to host first and second-round matches for the opening weekend of the NCAA Championships. The Huskies will host three other teams after Bank of America Arena was chosen as one of 16 sites for opening weekend play.

The Huskies, who were selected as the No. 6 seed overall among the 64 teams, will be making their sixth straight NCAA appearance under head coach Jim McLaughlin and eighth overall in school history. They were placed in the Penn State regional, which would potentially match them up against the third-seeded, and No. 1-ranked, Nittany Lions in the Sweet 16 in two weeks.

Washington (26-3) will face Missouri (17-12) on Friday night at 7 p.m. The Tigers finished in sixth place in the Big 12. In the other match on Friday, BYU (21-7) will take on Mississippi (25-7) at 4:30 p.m. BYU tied for second in the Mountain West Conference while the Rebels were the second-place finisher in the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference.

"Just having been in the Big 12, they're a good program," said McLaughlin of Missouri. "They'll come out here and they'll be ready to play. They've got a good staff and they'll be prepared. We expect them to play well."

McLaughlin, who led his team to the 2005 national championship, is attempting to lead his team to the Final Four for the fourth straight year. If he accomplishes that, Washington would become just the sixth team in the 26-year history of the NCAA Championships to reach the Final Four in four consecutive seasons.

"We want to go every year," said McLaughlin on the chance of going to the Final Four again. "We think we can do that if we take care of business and take care of the things that we're supposed to take care of. We've got good players and they know how to play the game. So we think we can do it."

The two winners of Friday's matches will face off on Saturday at 6 p.m. for the right to advance to regional play at Penn State, which would take place Dec. 7-8.

The Huskies watched the selection show on ESPNU Sunday evening as a team and a loud cheer erupted when it was announced that they would be staying home for the opening rounds. While they had put in a bid to host, it seemed highly unlikely that Washington would get that chance because the NCAA likes to pair at least two regional teams in its 16 opening-round sites. Because no other non-conference Northwest school was expected to be selected for the tournament (the NCAA generally does not pair conference schools together in the First and Second Rounds), the Huskies were a long shot to host despite their No. 6 national ranking in the last CSTV/AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll.

"I'm excited, I really am," said senior All-American Christal Morrison. "I think it's big time that we get to stay here in Seattle for the first two games. I'm definitely excited for the road that we have, it's going to be good."

Added senior All-American Alesha Deesing: "Of course we are excited that we don't have to travel. We are just excited about the opportunity to play in front of our home crowd."

The Huskies were hoping for Portland State to qualify for the tournament, which would have increased their chances of hosting, but the Vikings lost to Sacramento State in the finals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament on Saturday night. It turns out they didn't need PSU to make it after all. Idaho qualified in 2004 and Washington got to host that year, but they were shipped to Colorado the past two seasons for the First and Second Rounds after no other non-conference regional team was selected.

The Huskies played what they thought was their final home game on Friday night against No. 13 Oregon, winning 3-1. They are excited for the chance to play one more time in front of their home crowd.

"We love to play in front of the UW crowd," said senior Ashley Aratani, who was one of five seniors honored prior to the Oregon match. "I thought I was playing my last match in Seattle on Friday, but now I have an opportunity to play in front of them again and that is great."

The Huskies have never faced Missouri or Mississippi and are 0-11 all-time against BYU, but have not faced the Cougars since 2001. If they advance to play Penn State, it would be the second straight season the two teams have met up in the Sweet 16. The Nittany Lions were sent to Seattle for regional play in both 2004 and 2006, but only faced Washington last year. The Huskies, who were seeded sixth, defeated Penn State, the No. 3 seed, 3-1 (30-27, 30-24, 28-30, 30-26).

McLaughlin said that a potential matchup with the No. 1-ranked Nittany Lions would be a challenge, but that all of the teams in the tournament provide stiff competition.

"It's all tough. It's tough to win the thing. I thought there was a chance of us (going there) only because they sent Penn State out here twice (in 2004 and 2006). The thing that I like is we've been a better team on the road and we've beat some very good teams on the road this year. We didn't do that last year.

"I'm not worried about being in tough environments," he said. "We've done that. We've got to take care of the first round."

Pac-10 foe Stanford earned the No. 1 overall seed with Nebraska garnering the No. 2 seed. Following Penn State at No. 3 was Texas, USC and Washington. Two other Pac-10 schools also received one of the 16 seeds, UCLA the No. 8 seed and California at the No. 10 seed. Oregon was the only other Pac-10 school to qualify.

The four regional sites were predetermined before the season. In addition to the regional hosted by Penn State in University Park, Pa., the other three were Gainesville, Fla. (Florida), Madison, Wis. (Wisconsin) and Palo Alto, Calif. (Stanford). The 2007 NCAA Championships will take place at Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif., Dec. 13-15.