OU Opens NCAAs in Gainesville

Nov. 25, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. - The Oklahoma volleyball team will be making back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament as the 64-team field was announced Sunday night. The Sooners will head to Gainesville, Fla., joining host school and overall No. 13 seed Florida (27-2), Florida A&M (18-7) and College of Charleston (26-7) in the four-team field set for this Thursday and Friday (Nov. 29-Nov. 30).

The Sooners are making their fifth NCAA appearance in school history and are slated to play Florida A&M in opening round action at 4 p.m. (CST) this Thursday.

In the same regional, Florida will face College of Charleston at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. The winners of both matches will meet on Friday at 6 p.m. for a bid to the Sweet 16 back in Gainesville, Fla.

"It is always an incredible opportunity when you make it to the NCAA Tournament," head coach Santiago Restrepo said. "Anyone has a chance to do great things and we are looking forward to the challenge and are going to get busy preparing for Florida A&M. They have been very successful the last couple of years so we must be ready."

Oklahoma is making its second consecutive appearance after advancing to the Sweet 16 last season. The Sooners made their first ever trip to the NCAA Tournament in 1987 and followed that with a 1988 appearance and again in 1997 and 2006.

NCAA Bracket (PDF) | Coach Restrepo and Players React to NCAA Selection

Restrepo led the Sooners to another strong regular season as they finished with an overall record of 21-9, including a 17-3 mark in the Big 12. Oklahoma only returned two starters from last year's record-breaking squad and was picked to finish ninth in the preseason Big 12 poll, but the Sooners were once again the surprise of the Big 12 as they finished fourth in the league and were ranked No. 21 in last week's top-25 poll.

Within the Gainesville bracket, nationally-seeded Florida owns the top mark while OU follows as the No. 2 seed and Florida A&M and College of Charleston round out the four-team field as the third and fourth teams, respectively.

The winner of the First/Second Rounds will advance to Regionals in Gainesville, Fla., the following weekend (Dec. 7-8) against the four-team pod hosted by Texas in Austin. That four-team field includes No. 4 overall seed Texas, LSU, New Mexico State and Texas State.

The regional winners will advance to the semifinals and final hosted by Cal State at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif., on Dec. 13 and 15.

SCHEDULE
Below is a schedule for the First and Second Rounds in Gainesville, Fla.
(All times Central Standard)

Thursday, Nov. 29
Match One: Oklahoma vs. Florida A&M (4 p.m.)
Match Two: Florida vs. College of Charleston (6:30 p.m.)

Friday, Nov. 30
Finals: Match one winner vs. Match two winner (6 p.m.)

Florida A&M Rattlers (18-7)

The Rattlers earned the automatic bid after winning the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference for the eighth time in the last nine seasons. The Rattlers won six straight before dropping their final regular season match to South Florida. Thursday's match will mark the first ever meeting between Florida A&M and Oklahoma. In addition, the only common opponent between the two squads this season is No. 4 seed Texas. The Longhorns swept the Rattlers in Austin this year while Oklahoma was swept twice by the Horns during the Big 12 season.

Florida Gators (27-2)

The hometown Gators are the No. 13 overall seed in the 64-team field, the same overall seed the Sooners were in last season's bracket. Florida also earned the automatic bid after winning the SEC Conference. The Gators, ranked No. 9 in last week's top-25 poll, only dropped two losses all season as they were perfect in the SEC season except for a five-game loss to Arkansas and lost a five-game heartbreaker to Long Beach State in their final match of the season.

Charleston Cougars (26-7)

The College of Charleston is making its fourth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament and will open the tournament in Gainesville for the second straight year. The Cougars earned the automatic bid after winning the Southern Conference. The Cougars and Sooners also both own victories over NCAA-Tournament qualifier Alabama.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors