2016 NCAA VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - For the first time in conference history, two teams have earned spots in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament. SMU earned the automatic qualifying spot by winning its second straight conference title and Cincinnati became the first American school to earn an at-large bid in the tournament.
SMU won the American Athletic Conference championship with an 18-2 record, a program record for conference wins, and a 25-7 record overall. SMU will face Texas A&M in the first round on Friday (Dec. 2) at 5 p.m. ET. The Mustangs are making their second appearance in the NCAA tournament, losing to Purdue 3-1 in Austin, Texas last year.
Katie Hegarty led the team with 436 kills, eclipsing 400 at SMU for the first time since Dana Powell had 416 in 2010. Freshman
Kendall Patterson led The American with 1,258 assists, averaging 10.94 per set, aiding four attackers to more than 200 kills each this season.
Morgan Heise led the league in digs for the third straight season, finishing with 593, and
Janelle Giordano led the conference with 139 blocks. The duo anchored the defense which held opponents to a conference-best .165 attack percentage.
Cincinnati became the first at-large bid in American Athletic Conference history as the Bearcats finished second in the conference with a 17-3 conference record and a 22-9 overall mark. Cincinnati will travel to Gainesville, Fla., and take on the Florida State Seminoles on Friday (Dec. 2) at 4:30 p.m., in the first round.
This marks the first time since 2011 that Cincinnati has made the NCAA Tournament and the Bearcats are making their 11
th appearance overall in the tournament.
Sophomore Jordan Thompson led the league, and ranked sixth in the NCAA, with 4.84 kills per set while also ranking amongst the top-10 in the country in points per set (seventh - 5.42), total kills (ninth - 552) and total points (10th - 618.0). Thompson also became the first player in league history to record her 1,000th kill in as a sophomore.
Portions of this article are courtesy of www.smumustangs.com and www.gobearcats.com.