Texas A&M to Face Northwestern Thursday - Host Regional Dec. 9-10

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Volleyball to Face Northwestern in NCAA First Round For Immediate Release
Sunday, November 27, 2005 COLLEGE STATION, Texas- The Texas A&M volleyball team (16-13, 9-11 Big 12) received its 13th consecutive at-large berth to the NCAA Championship and faces Northwestern in the first round, the NCAA selection committee announced today.

The Aggies face the Wildcats (19-11, 10-10 Big Ten) Thursday at 4 p.m. (CST) at the Joyce Center on the Notre Dame campus in South Bend, Ind. No. 6 seed Notre Dame faces Dayton Thursday at 6 p.m. in the other first-round match at the Joyce Center. The two winners of the Thursday matches meet Friday at 6:30 p.m. with the second-round winner advancing to the College Station Regional to be played at G. Rollie White Coliseum on Dec. 9-10. A&M made a late-season run, winning seven of its last nine matches to
capture the committee’s attention.

"I have some feelings of relief," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said after hearing that the Aggies had made it into the tournament. "I was very hopeful
and pretty optimistic, but you never really know what the committee is going
to put all its weight on for the at-large teams. "I’m just incredibly proud of this particular group, a group that has had more higher highs and lower lows in the first month than I have ever experienced, yet they did find that consistent ground to start competing on and playing with and working and training on every day. It just makes it even that much more rewarding, and it reminds me of why I coach because I love that feeling and that ability to be able to help a group achieve its long term goal."

A&M, which is making its 17th overall appearance in the NCAA tournament,
went 16-13 during the regular season and tied Iowa State for sixth place in
the Big 12 Conference with a 9-11 mark. Northwestern, which has never won an NCAA postseason match, earned its third NCAA at-large bid in the last four years and seventh overall after finishing the regular season 7-3 over its
last 10 matches to finish sixth in the Big Ten with a 10-10 mark.

Notre Dame (28-3) received an automatic bid to the 64-team tournament by
winning the Big East Conference tournament. Dayton (24-10) will be making
its third appearance in the NCAA Tournament after winning the Atlantic 10
conference title for the third consecutive season.

A&M, which ended the regular season with a five-game loss at No. 10
Missouri, is making its 17th overall NCAA appearance. Last year, A&M swept
Winthrop in the first round and then fell to host and No. 12 seed Tennessee,
3-1, in Knoxville.

"I think we are at the peak of our season and we have a lot of momentum and confidence going into the NCAAs," Corbelli said. "We are just relieved that we got in, and we are going to go as hard as we can to see how far into the tournament we can go." Texas A&M NCAA Tournament Notes: A&M is making its 13th consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament and its 17th overall appearance (1981, '82, '85, '86, '93, '94, '95, '96, '97, '98,' 99, '00, '01, '02, '03, ‘04, ‘05) since the inception of the tournament in 1981…The Aggies have never lost an NCAA first-round match under 13th-year head coach Laurie Corbelli and are one of only six teams in the nation that has advanced to at least the second round of the NCAA tournament every year during her tenure…A&M sports a 20-16 (.556) all-time record in the NCAA tournament, including a 18-12 (.600) mark during Corbelli's A&M tenure…The Big 12 led all conferences with seven teams selected to the tournament field: No. 1 seed Nebraska, No. 10 seed Missouri, Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State, Texas and Texas A&M…Nebraska earned the Big 12’s automatic bid by winning the conference title with a 19-1 record…The Aggies are 5-10 this year against the teams in the NCAA tournament field.

NCAA Tournament Notes: This is the eighth year the tournament has included
64 teams…Thirty-one conferences were awarded automatic qualification, and
the remaining 33 slots were filled with at-large selections to complete the
bracket…The top 16 teams were seeded nationally…Nebraska is the No. 1
seed…Sixteen first-and second-round matches will be played Dec 1-4 on the
campuses of participating institutions…Winners will advance to four regional
tournaments to be played in Omaha, Neb, Palo Alto, Calif., State College,
Pa., and College Station, Texas, Dec. 8-11. This is the third year the
regional sites have been predetermined…The four regional winners will meet
at the Final Four, to be hosted by the University of Texas-San Antonio and
held at the Alamodome, Dec. 15 and 17…Stanford is the defending national
champion…For complete tournament bracket and information, visit the NCAA
official Website at www.NCAAsports.com.

College Station, Texas Regional: Tickets to the 2005 NCAA Division I Women’s
Volleyball Regional to be held at G. Rollie White Coliseum, Dec. 9-10, are
on sale at the Texas A&M Athletic Ticket Office. Semifinal matches will be
Dec. 9 at 5 and 7 p.m. The regional final match will be held Dec.10 at 5
p.m. Prices are $25 for reserved seats, $15 for adult general admission and
$10 for youth general admission.

All-session tickets may be purchased by calling the ticket office at
1-888-99-AGGIE or ordering online at AggieAthletics.com/NCAAvolleyball.
Possible participants in the College Station Regional with records in
parentheses are: No. 3 seed Washington (26-1), No. 6 seed Notre Dame (28-3), No. 11 seed Wisconsin (23-6) and No. 14 seed Purdue (23-8), as well as
California (18-10), College of Charleston (30-1), Colorado (15-12), Colorado
State (20-8), Dayton (24-10), Loyola (Ill.) (13-17), North Carolina (23-9),
Northwestern (19-11), Siena (20-11), Texas A&M (16-13), Valparaiso (27-7)
and Virginia Commonwealth (22-11).