Wildcats earn No. 3 seed for regional

ACU, Lady Bronchos to meet in quarterfinal round

ABILENE - For the second straight season, the ACU Wildcats have been tabbed as theNo. 3 seed in the NCAA Division II Southwest Region volleyball tournament, and for the second straight season the tournament will be played in Kearney, Neb.

The Wildcats -- 29-3 overall and Lone Star Conference champions for the second straight year -- will carry their school-record 29-match winning streak into the tournament, which will begin Friday at the Health and Sports Center on the campus of the
University of Nebraska-Kearney.

As the No. 3 seed in the tournament, the Wildcats will once again play the first match of the tournament, and the foe on the other side of the net will certainly be a familiar one as ACU will take on No. 6 seed Central Oklahoma.  ACU blitzed the Lady Bronchos in three games last Saturday night at Moody Coliseum to win the LSC Post-Season Tournament championship.

The Lady Bronchos will be making their third overall appearance in the tournament (1994 and 2002 were the other two appearances). UCO lost to Central Missouri State in the regional final in 1994 and lost to Nebraska-Kearney in the first round in 2002.

This year's setup is eerily familiar for the Wildcats, who last year dominated St. Edward's in a pair of regular-season sweeps, but were then swept out of the regional tournament in the first round by the Lady Hilltoppers.  And again this year ACU plays a team in Central Oklahoma that it has dominated in a pair of victories (3-1 on Sept. 16 in Abilene and 3-0 on Saturday in Abilene).

However, whereas St. Edward's was the team with post-season experience in 2004, it is the Wildcats who have the upper hand in post-season experience this year as seven of the players in their nine-player rotation have played in the regional tournament.

"I think that will help us this year," ACU head coach Brek Horn said.  "Last year we were all a little intimidated by the entire process, but we're a more experienced group this year and I think that will be to our benefit."

ACU and Central Oklahoma are joined in the regional tournament by fellow LSC member West Texas A&M, which is seeded
seventh in the field.

The Lady Buffs, who lost to Central Oklahoma in the LSC tournament semifinals, will play No. 2 Metro State in Friday's first round.  The ACU-UCO winner will play the WTAM-Metro State winner in Saturday's semifinal round.  Metro State handed ACU its last loss, a
3-2 setback all the way back on Aug. 27 at the Tampa Classic in Tampa, Fla.

The other half of the bracket has No. 1 seed and tournament host Nebraska-Kearney playing No. 8 seed Colorado School of Mines and No. 4 seed Western New Mexico taking on No. 5 seed Mesa State.  The championship match is set for  3 p.m. Sunday.  The tournament winner will advance to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight tournament at a site to be determined.

Beginning Tuesday at 9 a.m., UNK will begin selling tournament passes. They will be $20  for adults and $10 for senior citizens (55and up) and children (under 18). All seating for the tournament will be general admission.

ACU's entire run through the tournament can be heard locally on KYYW 1470 AM and on the internet at www.teamline.cc.