Wolverines Earn NCAA At-Large Bid, Open Against Rice
11/28/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan volleyball team earned a bid to the 64-team NCAA Tournament Sunday night (Nov. 28), as announced by the NCAA. It is the fifth bid to the tournament in the last six seasons and the third in a row for U-M volleyball.
Michigan (19-12) will face Rice University (25-4) in the first round on Friday (Dec. 3) at 5 p.m. CST at Gregory Gym on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. The sixth-seeded Texas Longhorns take on the Texas State Bobcats in the other side of the bracket, with the winner facing either the Wolverines or the Owls in the second round at 6:30 p.m. CST on Saturday (Dec. 4).
Rice fell to Nevada in the Western Athletic Conference postseason tournament semifinals but secured an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament after registering a school-record .862 winning percentage and earning the most wins since 1984 when Rice went 26-18. Michigan is 1-0 against Rice all-time, defeating the Owls 3-0 at the 1991 Rice Baden Showcase Tournament in Houston, Texas.
The only common opponent Michigan and Rice share this season is Minnesota. The Owls took the Gophers to five games in a 3-2 loss on Sept. 17 when the Gophers were the No. 1 team in the nation, while Michigan was 0-2 against Minnesota in 2004, falling in three games in Minneapolis on Sept. 25 and losing a five-gamer in Ann Arbor on Nov. 12.
The Big Ten Conference will send seven representatives to the NCAA Tournament, tied with the Big 12 for the most participants. Ten of the Wolverines' opponents in 2004 earned berths in the NCAA Tournament.
The NCAA Regionals will be held on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 10-11, at the University of Kentucky, Minnesota, the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Regional matches will be broadcast live on CSTV. Michigan is in the Green Bay regional bracket.
The semifinal and championship matches will take place on Thursday, Dec. 16, and Saturday, Dec. 18, at Long Beach State University in Long Beach, Calif. The semifinal matches will be shown tape-delayed on ESPN2, with the championship live on ESPN2.
Contact: Richard Retyi (734) 763-4423
