STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford women's volleyball team (22-6) will begin its quest for the program's seventh NCAA title at home this week, as the squad earned the No. 8 overall seed in the 2015 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship and was selected to host the first and second rounds.
Stanford will play its first round match at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 3 at Maples Pavilion against New Mexico State (28-5). The Aggies went undefeated in Western Athletic Conference play and won the WAC Tournament to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. It is NM State’s eighth NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2013.
Loyola Marymount (22-8) and Colorado State (26-3) will meet in the other first-round matchup at Maples Pavilion on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. The Lions, who received an at-large bid out of the West Coast Conference, are making their 13th postseason appearance. The Rams were undefeated in Mountain West Conference play and earned an automatic berth into the tournament. The winners of the Stanford-New Mexico State match and the Loyola Marymount-Colorado State match will meet in the second round on Friday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.
Should Stanford advance, the team will travel to San Diego, California, for the San Diego Regional on Dec. 11-12. The 2015 Final Four will be held at the Century Link Center in Omaha, Nebraska, Dec. 17-19.
Stanford will be making its 35th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and is one of just two teams to have made it to all 35 tournaments. The Cardinal will be seeking its seventh NCAA title, 20th Final Four trip and 15th appearance in the national title match.
Last season, Stanford fell in the national semifinals to eventual national champion Penn State. Under 15th-year head coach John Dunning, Stanford has reached six of the last 14 NCAA title matches and won two national championships.
The Cardinal wrapped up the regular season on Friday with a thrilling five-set comeback win at No. 13 UCLA. Stanford finished third in the Pac-12 with a 16-4 conference mark. Seven Pac-12 schools earned bids to the NCAA Tournament.
Tickets for the first and second rounds will be available online at www.GoStanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD.