STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford women's volleyball team (26-3) will begin its quest for the program's eighth NCAA title at home this week, as the squad earned the No. 3 overall seed in the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament.
Stanford will play its first round match at 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 1 at Maples Pavilion against CSU Bakersfield (19-13). The Roadrunners won the WAC tournament to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
Colorado State (28-3) and Michigan (21-11) will meet in the other first-round matchup at Maples Pavilion on Friday at 4:30 p.m. The Rams won their 14th Mountain West Conference championship to receive an automatic berth into the tournament. The Wolverines are riding a five-match winning streak heading into the tournament and received an at-large berth out of the Big Ten Conference.
The winners of the Stanford-CSU Bakersfield match and the Colorado State-Michigan match will meet in the second round on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 6 p.m.
Should the Cardinal advance past the first weekend of play, it will also host the regional rounds on Dec. 8-9 at Maples Pavilion. The seeded teams in Stanford's region are No. 6 Texas, No. 11 Utah and No. 14 Iowa State. The Final Four will be held at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri on Dec. 14-16.
Stanford is making its 37th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and is one of just two teams to have made it to all 37 tournaments. The Cardinal will be seeking an NCAA record eighth national title, its 21st Final Four trip and 16th appearance in the national title match.
The Cardinal wrapped up the regular season on Saturday with a dominating sweep over Bay Area rival California. Stanford claimed its 17th Pac-12 title and finished conference play at 19-1. Nine Pac-12 schools earned bids to the NCAA Tournament, the most in the nation.
Tickets for the first and second rounds will be available online at www.GoStanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD beginning at 9 a.m. PT on Monday, Nov. 27.
Cardinal checks in at No. 3 for the @NCAAVolleyball Tournament #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/ZijIoG8GH1
— Stanford Women's Volleyball (@StanfordWVB) November 27, 2017