The ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ volleyball team, the 2012 Patriot League champions, will be heading to Austin, Texas, to play No. 3 Texas at 7 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The field of 64 was chosen Sunday afternoon and was televised on ESPNU. The Raiders enter as the 16th seed in the Austin portion of the tournament bracket and the Longhorns are the third overall seed and top team in its home region. Joining ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ and Texas in the first round at Gregory Gymnasium will be North Carolina State and Texas A&M, which is the 8th-and 9th-seed matchup.
The Raiders enter the tournament with a 17-13 overall record. They received the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament after winning the Patrtiot League championship on Nov. 18.
Texas will be waiting with a 23-4 overall record, but is coming off a tough five-set loss to Iowa State, which snapped the Longhorns’ 17-match winning streak. However, Texas had already clinched the Big 12 title the week before.
This will be the first meeting between these two schools. For ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ, it is the first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1999, when they went to Pacific in the first round of the tournament. The team watched the selection show from the ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ Inn with many supporters.