NOV. 11, 2001

No. 1 Seed Truman to Host South Central Volleyball Regional

The Truman State University women's volleyball team, the No. 2 ranked team in the nation, will host the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament later this week, Nov. 15-17.

The Bulldogs (35-1) enter the postseason as the top seed in the region after posting a 26-0 record against South Central Region foes. Truman has a first-round bye in the tournament, as does No. 2 seed North Alabama (30-3).

On Thursday, the tournament is slated to begin with two matches, one pitting third seed Central Missouri State (24-6) against No. 6 seed Albany State (Ga.) (21-9) at 5 pm. CMSU was the runner-up to Truman in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association while Albany State won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletics Conference for an automatic berth. The other Thursday match has Alabama-Huntsville (28-8) and Henderson State (Ark.) (27-9) doing battle in a matchup of two top Gulf South Conference squads. That one takes place at 7:30 pm

The Bulldogs will draw the Alabama-Huntsville/Henderson State winner in the 7:30 pm Friday match, while Gulf South Conference champ UNA will square of with either CMSU or ASU in the 5 pm match on Friday. Friday's semifinal winners advance to the championship match, which is to be played on Saturday at 7 pm. The winner of the South Central Region championship will move on to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight national championship tournament that is slated for Nov. 29-Dec. 1 at a site to be announced.

At the Elite Eight, the South Central Region champion will play the winner of the North Central Regional, which is being played at North Dakota State. The South Central winner would not meet the current No. 1 team in the AVCA poll, West Texas A&M, until the national title match.

Eight six-team regionals will be played later this week at campus sites around the country. The tournaments will all be single-elimination and best three-out-of-five matches. There will be no third-place matches.

Truman is hosting volleyball postseason action for the first time in school history after having its best volleyball regular season ever. The 'Dogs have won 24 straight matches and captured their first outright MIAA championship last week with a defeat of Central Missouri State to complete a 16-0 run through the conference slate. The Bulldogs have been nationally-ranked for 25 consecutive weeks, including all of the 2001 campaign. Truman is also riding a 20-match home winning streak.

Last year, the Bulldogs made just their second postseason appearance in school history and advanced all the way to the South Central Regional championship match before falling in five games to eventual national semifinalist and last year's regional host, North Alabama.

NCAA Division II South Central Regional
Nov. 15-17, 2001 @ Pershing Arena (Kirksville, Mo.

THURSDAY'S MATCHES
#3 Central Missouri State (24-6) vs. #6 Albany State (Ga.) (21-9), 5 pm
#4 Alabama-Huntsville (28-8) vs. #5 Henderson State (Ark.) (27-9), 7:30 pm

FRIDAY'S MATCHES
#2 North Alabama (31-3) vs. CMSU-ASU winner, 5 pm
#1 Truman (35-1) vs. UAH-HSU winner, 7:30 pm

SATURDAY'S MATCHES
Championship match, 7 pm