No. 23 CSU Rams Volleyball to host first, second-round of NCAA Tournament this week
By Rich Kurtzman | November 29, 2009
After a loss in their final game to the New Mexico State Aggies 3-1, the No. 23 CSU Rams Volleyball team (23-5, 15-1 MWC) discovered their destiny today as it was announced where they will play to start the NCAA Tournament.
Much to their delight, the Rams will start their 15th straight NCAA Tournament in the friendly confines of their home court, Moby Arena. Moby was selected as a site for the first two rounds of Tournament play likely because in-state rival Northern Colorado also made the Tournament.
UNC (22-11, 12-4 BSC) won the Big Sky Conference this season and will face the No. 6 seeded Washington Huskies (23-5, 13-5 Pac-10) who came in second in the Pac-10 to Stanford by one game. The Bears and Huskies play on Thursday at 5 p.m. for the chance to move on to the second round.
Following their game, the Mountain West Conference Champion Rams face the Sun Belt Champion Middle Tennessee State (25-9) at 7 p.m. with a huge home-court advantage. CSU has gone a solid 13-3 at home this season even with yesterday’s loss, and they will be very tough to beat in Fort Collins.
Middle Tennessee State head coach Matt Peck commented on the match-up saying, “I’m excited about our draw. Colorado State has a very strong history in volleyball. They have a very good team, a well-coached team and a very physical team. I think it will be an interesting match-up. I don’t think they are too familiar with our style and we have a good history in the NCAA tournament as well.”
So, even though the Rams have the advantage, Peck that the Blue Raiders are showing they will not lie down and they are confident going into the tournament.
CSU though, is in basically a must-win position, at home against an inferior opponent in MT. The Blue Raiders actually out kill the Rams 48.5-47.6 per set, and hit a better team percentage (.285-.238), but CSU out blocks MT 9.5-8.6 per set. Plus, the Blue Raiders are a liability with service errors, as they had many more than the Rams this season (323-88).
Lastly, if the game goes to a fifth set CSU would have the decisive advantage, as they are 5-0 and MT is only 2-1.
The winners of the two first-round games go on to face each other Friday night, as they will be competing to go on to play in Minneapolis, Minn. The full tournament includes 64 teams and the Championship match will take place in Tampa, Florida on Dec. 19. This is the 10th time CSU has hosted the first and second rounds of the tournament, the first time since 2005 when they beat CU but lost to Washington in the second round.
This year could be very similar, as the Rams will likely face Washington in the second round, if they win their first match. Hopefully this time around the results will be better for CSU, as they look to move past the second round for the first time in five years.
Tickets for the first and second rounds are surprisingly cheap, at $10 dollars for general admission to all three games and tickets can be purchased by calling 800/491-RAMS.
The full NCAA Tournament Bracket can be found here.
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