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Five Pac-12 volleyball teams remain in NCAA Tournament

Dec 8, 2014
Washington Athletics

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Five Pac-12 women’s volleyball teams will head to regional semifinals to vie for a trip to the NCAA Tournament national semifinals in Oklahoma City. One of the eight matchups features two Pac-12 teams as top-seeded STANFORD will face off against OREGON STATE at the Ames Regional in Ames, Iowa on Thursday, Dec. 12. WASHINGTON, UCLA and OREGON take on non-conference opponents in the other three regionals. All regional semifinal matches will be televised on ESPN3 with the exception of Washington’s match against Nebraska, which will be broadcast on ESPNU ... Over the last 14 years, Pac-12 teams are 93-21 (.816) in the first round. The 10-0 record in the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament marked the most first-round wins in Conference history. Previously, Pac-12 teams went undefeated seven times in the opening round: 8-0 in 2000; 7-0 in 2008; 6-0 in 2007, 1998, 1996 and 1982; and 2-0 in 1990 ...  Pac-12 volleyball won their first-round matches by a combined score of 30-3 ... Two Pac-12 teams have only met in the postseason 21 times before. Most recently, Washington beat USC in the regional final last season ... Pac-12 volleyball made history as 10 teams earned berths to the 2014 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship, setting a new league and NCAA record. Five league teams were seeded in the top 16 and will be hosting the first and second rounds on their home courts ... STANFORD picked up the No. 1 overall seed, and WASHINGTON was tabbed as the No. 3 seed. OREGON, ARIZONA and UCLA all earned the 10th, 11th and 12th seeds, respectively. Unseeded teams were ARIZONA STATE, COLORADO, OREGON STATE, USC and UTAH ... The Pac-12 has won 14 of 33 NCAA titles awarded, including 12 of the last 23. It is the 15th-consecutive year the Conference has had at least six teams compete in the NCAA Tournament ... Pac-12 volleyball teams are 414-217 overall in postseason play, including the 21 previous matches where two Pac-12 teams have played against each other ... STANFORD won its 16th Pac-12 title, finishing the regular season with the best win-loss percentage in the nation despite WASHINGTON handing the Cardinal a loss in the final week of the regular season ... In the final week of the regular season, Pac-12 teams posted an astonishing six upsets, including UW’s win over previously unbeaten Stanford. For a full list of the 29 upsets by Pac-12 teams this season,  see page five ... The final weekly honors of the season went to Washington’s Krista Vansant for Offensive Player of the Week, USC’s Taylor Whittingham for Defensive Player of the Week and Oregon State’s Mary-Kate Marshall for Freshman of the Week. Vansant set a league record for weekly honors with her 10th-career accolade, while Marshall is tied for second in career freshman of the week honors with five in her first year as a Beaver. 

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Thursday, Dec. 12
#1 STANFORD vs. OREGON STATE, 5 p.m. CT (ESPN3)
#8 Florida vs. #9 Illinois, 7 p.m. CT (ESPN3)
Ames Regional, Ames, Iowa (Hilton Coliseum)

#3 WASHINGTON vs. #14 Nebraska, 6:30 p.m. PT (ESPNU)
#6 Florida State vs. BYU, 4 p.m. PT (ESPN3)
Seattle Regional, Seattle, Wash. (Alaska Airlines Arena)

#12 UCLA vs. #5 Penn State, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN3)
#4 Wisconsin vs. Ohio State, 5 p.m. ET (ESPN3)
Louisville Regional, Louisville, Ky. (KFC Yum! Center)

#10 OREGON vs. #7 North Carolina, 6 p.m. CT (ESPN3)
#2 Texas vs. #15 Colorado State, 4 p.m. CT (ESPN3)
Minneapolis Regional, Minneapolis, Minn. (Sports Pavilion)