Illinois Volleyball Team Earns No. 3 National Seed in NCAA Volleyball Tournament
Illini host Central Michigan in first round Friday at Huff Hall
Champaign, Ill. – Illinois earned the No. 3 overall national seed for the 2011 NCAA Tournament. The Illini will host first and second round games at Huff Hall on Friday and Saturday as the road to San Antonio begins.
Illinois, who finished the regular season 27-4 and tied for second in the Big Ten, will host Central Michigan, the Mid-American Conference Tournament winner. The Chippewas finished the regular season 19-13 and are one of four teams from the MAC to make thefield.
The Illini and CMU willface-off at 7 pm on Friday, Dec. 2. The other first-round match-up featuresWestern Kentucky (31-3) and Marquette (23-10) at 4:30 p.m. The winners meet in the second round on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. The Hilltoppers entered the AVCA Coaches poll this past week at No. 24 and are coming to Champaign for the second straight year, having lost to Cincinnati in the 2010 first round at Champaign. WKU is the champion of the Sun Belt Conference, who also advanced Middle Tennessee into the field. Marquette is one of three teams from the Big EastConference in the tournament, joining Louisville and Cincinnati.
All-session tickets will be on sale starting at 9 a.m. Monday morning at the University of Illinois Athletic Ticket Office or by calling 866-Illini-1. Ticket prices are $16 for reserved seats, $12 for general admission or $8 for student/youth general admission.Single-session tickets will only be available at the door and are $8 for the general public and $6 for students/youth.
Illinois played 21 matches against 14 teams who advanced to the tournament, including a tournament-leading eight from the Big Ten. The Big 12 and the Pac-12 each advanced seven teams to the post-season. Of those eight Big Ten teams, five received national seeds, including three in the top five – No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Illinois, No. 5 Purdue, No. 8 Penn State and No. 13 Minnesota. Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State also received at-large bids. The other Illinois opponents who made the field were Dayton, Louisville, Cincinnati, Middle Tennessee, Tennessee, and Tulsa.
The Illini are the top seed in the Gainesville, Fla., Bracket. The semifinals of that regional on the University of Florida campus are Friday Dec. 9 at 4 and 6 p.m. CT with the championship shown live on ESPNU HD at 6 p.m. on Saturday Dec. 10. The National Semifinals are Dec. 15 at 6 and 8:30 p.m. CT in San Antonio, Texas, with the championship game also at the Alamodome on Dec. 17 at 7:30 p.m. Those matches will be shown live on ESPN2.
The other seeded teams in the Gainesville bracket are No. 6 Northern Iowa, No. 11 Stanford and No. 14 Tennessee. Illinois could meet Tennessee in a possible regional semifinal. The Illini defeated the Lady Vols in four sets at the this year’s State Farm Illini Classic.
The top four national seeds were No. 1 Texas, who will compete in the Lexington, Ky., Regional; No. 2 Nebraska, who will compete in the Honolulu Regional; No. 3 Illinois in the Gainesville, Fla., Regional, and No. 4 Iowa State in the Minneapolis Regional. This marks the highest national seed for the Illini.
