November 12, 2007

Volleyball to Host Southwest Regional

Part of Division II Tournament

      Kearney, Neb. – For the third time in school history, the No. 21^st-ranked Nebraska-Kearney volleyball team will host the Southwest Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

      The eight-team tournament will be held in the Health & Sports Center Nov. 16-18 (Fri.-Sun.). The field of 64-teams for the NCAA Division II Championships was announced this morning.

      The Lopers are making their ninth straight, and 12th overall, NCAA appearance. The Lopers are 20-11 all-time in NCAA play and have advanced to the Elite Eight five times, most recently in 2005. 

      UNK (31-4) will play Friday night at 7:30 against 8^th-seeded Mesa State. The Lopers beat the Mavericks, 3-1, earlier this year in Grand Junction.  The two teams have also faced each other in the last two SW Regionals, UNK winning in 2005 (second round) and Mesa in 2006 (first round).

      Three other RMAC schools -- Colorado-Colorado Springs, Fort Lewis and Metro State -- also made the field. The other three teams are from the Lone Star Conference    

      Beginning Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m., UNK will begin selling tournament passes. They will be $22.00 for adults and $15.00 for senior citizens (60 and up) and youths (under 18).

      Single session tickets will go on sale Friday. They'll be $ 8.00 (adult), $ 6.00 for senior citizens and youths and $ 4.00 (college student with valid ID).

      All seating for the tournament will be general admission. The UNK ticket office can be reached at (308) 865-1563.

      In 1995, the Lopers hosted and won the Northwest Regional by beating Portland State and Hawaii-Hilo. In 2004 and 2005, UNK went 3-0 each season to win the Southwest Regional and advance to the Elite Eight.

 Friday, November 16^th

Session 1

Match # 1         No. 3 Colo.-Colo. Springs (20-11) vs. No. 6 Metro State (15-14), 12:00 p.m.

Match # 2         No. 2 West Texas A & M (32-7) vs. No. 7 Midwestern State (27-5), 2:30 p.m.

Session 2

Match # 3         No. 4 Central Oklahoma (31-6) Vs. No. 5 Fort Lewis (21-7) vs. 5:00 p.m.

Match # 4         No. 1 UNK (31-4) vs. No. 8 Mesa State (15-13), 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, November 17th

Session 3

Match # 5         Winner Match # 1 Vs. Winner Match # 2, 5:00 p.m.

Match # 6         Winner Match # 3 Vs. Winner Match # 4, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 18th

Session 4

Match # 7         Championship, 3:00 p.m.