Nov. 5, 2006

PLU Invited to NCAA Division III National Volleyball Tournament

Stacie Matz and her PLU teammates play Redlands at the NCAA tournament

Pacific Lutheran, co-champion of the Northwest Conference, has received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III national volleyball tournament which begins this Thursday in regional locations across the country.

The Lutes, 20-6 this season and ranked No. 22 in the country, are the No. 3 seed in the West Region tournament being hosted by the University of La Verne in La Verne, Calif. Pacific Lutheran will face the regional tournament’s No. 6 seed, University of Redlands (20-6), at 6 p.m. Thursday.

The other first-day pairings at the West Region tournament have No. 2 Linfield (20-2, ranked No. 14 and Northwest Conference co-champions with PLU) against No. 7 Colorado College (23-10), and No. 4 California Lutheran (15-5) against No. 5 Cal State-East Bay (27-8 and ranked No. 23). University of La Verne (27-2 and ranked No. 3 in the nation) has a bye on the first day.

The semifinal matches on Friday will pit the winner of PLU versus Redlands against the winner of the Linfield versus Colorado College contest, and La Verne against either Cal Lutheran or Cal State-East Bay. The semifinal winners battle for the regional championship on Saturday. The region winner advances to the next round of the national tournament.

Pacific Lutheran will be making its third appearance in the NCAA Division III national playoffs. In both 1999 and 2004, PLU teams won their first match and then lost in the second round. The 2004 team lost in the second round to the La Verne Leopards.

“We're excited,” said PLU head coach Kevin Aoki, “number one because we are co-champions of our conference, but also to be recognized as an NCAA tournament participant. Anytime that you can get to that level it shows you’re not only successful in your conference but that your program is also nationally known. This is exciting for the girls. We’ve had a really good year.”

The Redlands Bulldogs, the Lutes’ first round opponent, finished third in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings behind La Verne and Cal Lutheran. The Bulldogs have won nine straight matches, however, including a three-game sweep of La Verne in the regular season finale last weekend.

PLU has played several of these tournament teams this season, losing two of three to Linfield, beating Cal State East Bay and losing to Colorado College.

- PLU -