VB Seeded in NCAAs, Hosts First and Second Rounds

The Duke women's volleyball team was awarded the number 12 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament (third in their quarter of the draw, and exactly in line with last week's RPI). Duke will host first and second round matches at Cameron Friday and Saturday. On Friday, Duke will play High Point, and Penn will play Ohio University. The winners of the Friday matches will play on Saturday, and the survivor advances to the Sweet 16 at Penn State.

Florida State and Carolina will also represent the ACC in the tournament.

Congrats to the team and staff. LGD!

Miami and Virginia Tech also made the field. The 5 bids ties an ACC record for most in a single tournament. I also believe that this in the first time Duke has received a top 16 national seed. I don't know how far back this format goes and it's possible that received a seed in some of the early tournaments, but in the Jolene Nagel era, this will be the third time that Duke has hosted, and in the other two it was simply because the seeded team was unable to host. Perhaps there is someone out there with better knowledge of Duke Volleyball history who can confirm or correct that information.

Another interesting note is that the ACC, which is not a traditionally strong Volleyball conference, with the Pac 10, Big Ten, and Big 12 being the usual juggernauts, receive a lot of respect from the selection committee. Despite not having a single ranked team in the coaches poll (Duke was 2nd in ORV), the ACC had very strong computer numbers and was rewarded for them.

Also, Stanford in 2004 holds the record for the lowest seed to win at 11. Lets see if Duke can bump that number up this year. Congrats to the team and good luck!