NCAA Tournament Bracket
CHARLESTON,
S.C. –
With an automatic bid already secured, College of Charleston waited with anticipation on Sunday before learning that the Cougars will play No. 23 Miami
(Fla.) in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Volleyball Tournament.
College
of Charleston will travel to Gainesville, Fla., for a 5 p.m. match on Friday,
Nov. 30, against the Hurricanes of the ACC.
The
winner of the CofC-Miami match will take on the winner of Florida-Tulsa on
Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The host Gators earned the overall 14th seed in the
64-team tournament.
Friday’s
match will mark the first time that the Cougars have ever faced Miami, although
the venue will be similar as CofC has landed in Gainesville in each of the last
four trips (’12, ’09, ’07, ’06) to the NCAA Tournament. College of Charleston
fell to Florida 3-0 in 2009 and 2007, and lost to Arizona State, 3-1, in 2006.
CofC
earned an automatic bid to this year’s tournament by defeating Furman in a
five-set thriller in the title match of the Southern Conference Tournament in
Davidson, N.C. last Monday night.
College of Charleston will be making its seventh trip to the NCAA
Tournament, more than any other SoCon program. With the 2012 title, the Cougars
have now won 12 straight regular season or conference tournament championships,
the second-longest streak in the nation. With a 2005 first-round victory over
North Carolina, College of Charleston is the only SoCon program to ever win a
match in the NCAA Tournament.
The Cougars have been led this season by a number of standout
players including redshirt-junior Darcy Dorton who transferred to CofC from
Penn State. She has amassed 498 kills and will look to become the first CofC
player in the rally scoring era (since 2001) to tally 500 kills in one season.
Sophomore Sloane White, earned SoCon Tournament MVP honors after
she finished the season on a tear, hitting .453 in the SoCon Tournament and
finishing second on the team with 336 kills.
The CofC middle blockers stepped up immensely after entering the
season with relatively little playing time as Emily Neideffer (228 kills, 87
blocks) and Kerstin Koehler (185 kills, 101 blocks) helped to shore up the
middle of the net and take over after the departures of CofC greats Elyse Chubb
and Sarah Havel.
Freshman Melissa Morello was a surprising performer as she earned
SoCon All-Freshman honors after finishing third on the team with 241 kills.
Setter Taeler Davis also surprised many by averaging 12.04 assists per set as
the full-time starter after taking over for the injured Kallie McKown. Finally,
senior Emily Shelton closed out her final season with 638 digs, the third-most
in a single season in CofC history.
Friday’s match will be streamed live through Florida’s athletic
website, www.GatorZone.com.