It is that time of year again. It’s the time to fill out a bracket and get ready for the tournament.
Welcome to December Madness.
Florida was announced as the top seed in the 2010 NCAA Volleyball Championship tournament on Sunday afternoon.
This is the first time Florida has earned the top seed. The No. 1 Gators (27-1, 20-0 Southeastern Conference) are appearing in the tournament for the 20th consecutive year and 21st overall in school history.
“It was an excitement to see,” coach Mary Wise said. “There are over 300 teams that play Division I women’s volleyball and to be the No. 1 seed gives us a chance to reflect back on what we’ve earned through the course of those three months of the season.”
Florida will host its first-and second-round matchups in the O’Connell Center starting on Friday. The Gators are a part of the Austin, Texas, bracket and will face South Carolina State (17-22) in their first match.
Also in the Austin region are eighth-seeded Illinois (22-8), ninth-seeded Texas (23-5) and sixteenth-seeded Purdue (21-10).
Florida took Texas to five sets in Gainesville on Sept. 11, defeating the Longhorns 3-2 (25-11, 27-25, 16-25, 20-25, 16-14).
The only other team in the Austin region that Florida has played is Kentucky (17-13). The Gators beat the Wildcats twice this season by scores of 3-1 (18-25, 25-19, 25-13, 25-20) and 3-0 (25-21, 28-26, 25-13).
“I don’t think the selection process and the announcement could have happened soon enough for these players,” Wise said. “They’ve been looking forward to it and talking about it since our Friday night match. To be the No. 1 seed is a reflection of our early non-conference wins.”
Florida easily defeated South Carolina (7-23, 4-16) in straight sets 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-12) in its final regular-season match of the year in Columbia, S.C., on Friday night.
UF became the first SEC team to go undefeated in conference play since 2003. The last team to do so was the Florida squad that lost in the national championship seven years ago.
“That ’03 team did it as a favorite and they did it on a 16-match schedule,” Wise said.
“This team did it on a 20-match schedule when no one thought we were going to win — we were picked to finish third. If you had told anybody in the volleyball community that Florida was going to be the No. 1 seed come tournament time, no one would have believed you.”
