Familiarity won’t breed any contempt from Mary Wise and her Florida Gators volleyball team in the upcoming NCAA Division I tournament.
Florida (23-5), which was scheduled to host one of four regionals in this year’s tournament, received the No. 16 seed and will be the host for one of the 16 first- and second-round sites, four of which will feed the Gainesville regional Dec. 11-12.
Not only that but Florida’s first-round foe on Thursday will be the College of Charleston (18-12), a team the Gators defeated 3-0 in the first round of the 2007 tournament. That match will begin at 7:30 p.m.
The other first-round match at the O’Connell Center Thursday at 5 will match Miami (Fla.) (18-12) and Florida International (31-3). The two winners meet Friday at 7:30 p.m. to determine which team advances to the semifinals in Gainesville on Thursday, Dec. 11. Times have yet to be determined.
The NCAA tourney bid is the Gators’ 20th overall and 19th straight. Plus, it’s the 18th time in the last 19 years that Florida will begin its championship quest at home.
“This year had to be as difficult as it has ever been for the NCAA selection committee with all of the parity in women’s college volleyball,” Wise said. “There weren’t the clear-cut undefeated teams of the past. Besides the seeding, they also have to take into account geographic locations.”
The other Gainesville Regional semifinalists will come from sites at State College, Pa., Columbus, Ohio, and Los Angeles. Those sites will be contested Dec. 4-5. Florida’s Thursday-Friday schedule assures that there will be no conflict with the school’s appearance in the SEC Championship football game on Saturday in Atlanta.
Defending NCAA champion and top-ranked Penn State (32-0) is host to Binghamton, Army and Pennsylvania at State College. Ohio State is the host in Columbus with ninth-seed California, Lipscomb and Cincinnati. No. 8 UCLA is the host in Los Angeles to Long Beach State, Baylor and Georgia Tech.
In addition to Gainesville, the other regionals feeding the Final Four Dec. 17-19 in Tampa are Stanford, Calif., Minneapolis and Omaha, Neb. Stanford (No. 4) is the top-seeded team in its regional. Florida State (No. 3 seed) is the top-seeded team in the Minneapolis Regional, while Texas (No. 2 seed) is the top-seeded team in the Omaha regional.
NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
GAINESVILLE REGIONAL
FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS
Dec. 4-5 at State College, Pa.
No. 1 Penn State (32-0) vs. Binghamton (15-15)
Army (26-6) vs. Pennsylvania (22-5)
Dec. 3-4 at Gainesville, Fla.
Miami (Fla.) (18-12) vs. Florida International (31-3), 5 p.m.
College of Charleston (18-12) vs. No. 16 Florida (23-5), 7:30 p.m.
(Winners meet Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.)
Dec. 4-5 at Columbus, Ohio
No. 9 California (18-10) vs. Lipscomb (28-3)
Cincinnati (25-10) vs. Ohio State (24-9)
Dec. 4-5 at Los Angeles
Georgia Tech (21-9) vs. Baylor (22-9)
Long Beach State (22-8) vs. No. 8 UCLA (23-8)
SEMIFINALS/CHAMPIONSHIP
Dec. 11-12 at Gainesville
State College, Pa. winner vs. Gainesville winner
Columbus, Ohio winner vs. Los Angeles (UCLA) winner
STANFORD REGIONAL
FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS
Dec. 3-4 at Champaign, Ill.
No. 5 Illinois (24-5) vs. Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne (20-11)
Milwaukee (16-14) vs. Dayton (29-3)
Dec. 4-5 at Los Angeles
Southern California (21-9) vs. Oklahoma (18-11)
New Mexico (20-9) vs. No. 12 Hawaii (27-2)
Dec. 4-5 at Ann Arbor, Mich.
No. 13 Michigan (24-9) vs. Niagara (23-8)
Ohio (26-6) vs. Notre Dame (21-6)
Dec. 4-5 at Stanford, Calif.
St. Mary’s, Calif. (22-4) vs. UC Santa Barbara (22-7)
Long Island (21-13) vs. No. 4 Stanford (21-7)
SEMIFINALS/CHAMPIONSHIP
Dec. 11-12 at Stanford, Calif.
Champaign, Ill. winner vs. Los Angeles (USC) winner
Ann Arbor, Mich. winner vs. Stanford, Calif. winner
MINNEAPOLIS REGIONAL
FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS
Dec. 5-6 at Tallahassee, Fla.
No. 3 Florida State (28-2) vs. Alabama A&M (18-10)
Florida A&M (17-9) vs. Jacksonville State (26-7)
Dec. 4-5 at Lexington, Ky.
Kentucky (27-4) vs. Michigan State (17-15)
Clemson (23-9) vs. No. 14 Oregon (19-9)
Dec. 4-5 at Knoxville, Tenn.
No. 11 Minnesota (24-8) vs. Louisville (21-10)
Duke (27-5) vs. Tennessee (23-7)
Dec. 3-4 at Fort Collins, Colo.
Colorado State (23-5) vs. Middle Tennessee State (25-9)
Northern Colorado (21-11) vs. No. 6 Washington (23-5)
SEMIFINALS/CHAMPIONSHIP
Dec. 11-12 at Minneapolis
Tallahassee, Fla. winner vs. Lexington, Ky. winner
Knoxville, Tenn. winner vs. Fort Collins, Colo. winner
OMAHA REGIONAL
FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS
Dec. 4-5 at Ames, Iowa
No. 7 Iowa State (25-4) vs. George Mason (23-8)
Wichita State (25-6) vs. Saint Louis (24-7)
Dec. 4-5 at Lincoln, Neb.
Washington State (18-12) vs. Northern Iowa (30-2)
Coastal Carolina (20-13) vs. No. 10 Nebraska (23-6)
Dec. 4-5 at Baton Rouge, La.
No. 15 Louisiana State (24-6) vs. Tulane (18-9)
Arizona (19-10) vs. Texas A&M (18-10)
Dec. 4-5 at Austin, Texas
Texas Christian (26-6) vs. Rice (23-8)
Texas State (22-12) vs. No. 2 Texas (24-1)
SEMIFINALS/CHAMPIONSHIP
Dec. 11-12 at Omaha, Neb.
Ames, Iowa winner vs. Lincoln, Neb. winner
Baton Rouge, La. winner vs. Austin, Texas winner
FINAL FOUR AT TAMPA
Dec. 17 semifinals
Gainesville regional winner vs. Stanford regional winner, 7 or 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
Minneapolis regional winner vs. Omaha, Neb. Winner, 7 or 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
Dec. 19 championship
Semifinal winners, 8 p.m. (ESPN2)