Loud shouts of joy encompassed the Burbidge Center Monday afternoon as the Utah volleyball team discovered its fate in the NCAA Tournament.
Never before in the history of the U volleyball program has the team been able to host the first two rounds of the tournament, until now.
Due to the Mountain West Conference Championship win and being the 14th-ranked team in the nation, on Thursday night, the 23-6 Utes will begin the tournament at a place they have been dominant this entire season?Crimson Court.
“We are very excited to host; since the beginning of the season, our goal was to host the first two rounds of the tournament,” senior team captain Adrianne Drake said.
In order to cut down traveling, the NCAA has decided to regionalize the tournament and try not to have any teams travel through more than two time zones.
So the Utes are very familiar with the teams they will be squaring off against in the first and possibly the second round.
The first-round opponent will be the Texas Tech Red Raiders?the same opponent the Utes faced last year in the first round of the NCAAs.
Earlier this year, Texas Tech came to Crimson Court to compete in the Utah Classic. Utah dominated the Red Raiders in four games.
The potential second-round matchup would be even more intriguing, though, as all three teams from the state of Utah to qualify are in the same bracket. Utah State and BYU will be matched up in the first round, with the winner going on to face Utah or Texas Tech.
“We know all three teams because we have played all of them, but we have to concentrate on Texas Tech first,” said U coach Beth Launiere.
This is the fourth time in the team’s history it has reached the NCAAs. The past three years have resulted in the Utes losing in the second round of the tournament.
In Utah’s inaugural season in the NCAA Tournament, the Utes went to the second round of the tournament and won the first game against Nebraska. But that was the last game the Utes have won in the second round of NCAAs, as Nebraska won the next three games, and the next two years saw the Utes travel to Hawaii and get swept by the Rainbow Wahine.
As Utah has already defeated both BYU (twice) and Utah State this year, this will be its best chance to reach the elusive Sweet 16.
“I am really excited for our program, and this gives us the best shot, and I am also so excited because we have never hosted before,” Launiere said.