Murray State University Athletics
Racers to meet Illini in NCAA first round
11/30/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
For its first-ever trip to the NCAA Volleyball Championship -- and its first national post-season play in 11 years -- the Murray State Racers (18-11) got a pleasing draw, facing host and national No. 15 seed Illinois (24-6) on Friday at 7 p.m.
Louisville (24-5), to whom MSU lost a close 3-2 match earlier this season, and Notre Dame (23-6) will square off in Champaign, Ill., on Friday at 5 p.m. The two match winners will meet on Saturday at 7 p.m. to determine who advances to the regional in Hawai'i.
Murray State earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Championship as the champion of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. While the Racers have won two previous conference titles, this is their first one with an automatic NCAA bid attached.
"We are really excited," said MSU head coach David Schwepker. "This is a really good draw for us. It's close, so we can have our fans come up and watch, and we won't have to make a long road trip or a long flight trip for the first round, so our players will be better off for that.
"Illinois was the second-place team in the Big 10 (tied with Minnesota, second to Penn State), so this will be a great experience for our team. Plus, having Louisville on the other side of our bracket adds some incentive. Our team would love to get another chance at them, and there's no better place than in the NCAAs."
"We are so excited for our volleyball team," said MSU director of athletics E.W. Dennison. "This group of athletes did a tremendous job all year long, especially through some tough times and a lot of adversity. I am proud of their attitude. This is a great bunch of student-athletes, and a great bunch of people. I am so proud of them."
Murray State played in the 1989 Women's Invitational Volleyball Championship after earning its first OVC tournament title, then played in the 1992 National Invitational Volleyball Tournament after winning the 1992 conference championship.
*OVC NCAA HISTORY: The Ohio Valley Conference has had an automatic bid into the NCAA Championship Tournament since 1997, and took part in a play-in process from 1994 to 1996. Previous teams to earn the automatic bid include Tennessee Tech (1997), Southeast Missouri State (1998-2000), Eastern Illinois (2001) and Tennessee-Martin (2002). Prior to 1994, only Eastern Kentucky (1984) had played in the NCAA Championship.
Since the OVC earned the automatic bid in 1997, only SEMO has won a first-round match, beating North Carolina in 2000. Middle Tennessee State (1995) and SEMO (1996) won play-in matches into the NCAA Championship, but lost their ensuing matches.
