When summer practices begin, every college volleyball team in the country sets goals, and one of them is usually to make the NCAA Tournament at the end of the regular season. San Diego State is no different.
For the third straight season, the SDSU women’s volleyball team was assured a spot in the tournament when the seeds came out yesterday afternoon. The Aztecs, who finished the regular season with a 21-10 record, will host Sam Houston State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Peterson Gym.
“Our schedule was one of the toughest of the season,” Aztecs coach Mark Warner said. “We had losses to four of the five top teams in the nation, and they were all on the road.”
Despite falling in this weekend’s Western Athletic Conference Tournament, SDSU’s tough schedule and winning record were two of the reasons why the Aztecs made the tournament again this season. Their early season schedule matched them up against UC Santa Barbara, Southern California, Stanford and Arizona all of which are top 25 teams.
SDSU was not the only WAC team to reach the postseason tournament. The Hawaii Wahine (31-2) and the Brigham Young Cougars (25-6), who won the weekend’s WAC Tournament in Las Vegas, also advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
Wednesday night’s first round meeting with Sam Houston will be the teams’ first ever meeting. The Aztecs have fared well in their first round matches the past two seasons, defeating the University of Memphis in ’94 and Long Beach State last season.
