Nov. 25, 2007

Tournament Bracket

COLUMBIA, Mo.— The Missouri volleyball team (17-12) learned Sunday of its at-large selection into the NCAA Tournament field of 64 teams. Mizzou, who will play in the post-season for the eighth-straight year, will play sixth-seeded and No. 6 nationally-ranked Washington (26-3), Friday, in the first round, in Seattle. The Tigers, placed in the Penn State regional, would face either BYU or Ole Miss on Saturday in the second round if they were to upset the Huskies. Among Big 12 teams, only Missouri and Nebraska have been selected to each NCAA Tournament since 2000.

The Tigers, who finished in a tie for sixth in the Big 12 Conference with a 10-10 league record, will enter the tournament with the same overall record as they did in 2006. Last year, the Tigers advanced to the second-round of the tournament for the third-straight year after knocking off Santa Clara in the first round. In the second-round at Palo Alto, Mizzou forced second-seeded and national runner-up Stanford to a five-game standoff.

The meeting with Washington will be the first between the squads. The Huskies, 26-3, finished second in the Pac-10, the nation's leading conference in the RPI. All of the Huskies' three losses came in conference play and went the full five-games. Washington's only loss on their home floor was to top-seeded Stanford. UW also was nipped on the road at Cal and USC. The Huskies defeated Nebraska in the 2005 NCAA Championship match.

Looking across the bracket, the Tigers lost to Ole Miss in the season opener in Oxford, 3-2. The Tigers actually outscored the Lady Rebels in total points in that match, but we bested in the fifth game 16-14.

Much more information will be forthcoming in the coming days. Watch mutigers.com for all the updates.

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