NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET
NCAA TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
MOREHEAD, Ky. -- The Morehead State volleyball team learned Sunday night that it will face Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles were placed into the Minneapolis regional of the 64-team field and will battle the Boilermakers on Friday, Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. ET at Belin Court in West Lafayette, Ind.
Louisville and Ball State are the other two schools who will play at Purdue at 5 p.m. ET Friday. The winners will face off on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.
"We're excited. This is a great opportunity to play a quality team like Purdue, and we're happy about the draw," said MSU coach Jaime Gordon. "It's close enough regionally that we can get a little fan following for us. This is also great opportunity for us to represent the Ohio Valley Conference and Morehead State at a class place like Purdue."
Details about a potential fan bus will be available on
www.msueagles.com or MSU's official Twitter (@MSUATHLETICS) and Facebook sites (
www.facebook.com/msueagles).
Tickets for all sessions at Purdue are priced at $14 (general public) and $10 (students) for premium seats. General seating for all sessions is set at $12 (public) and $8 (students), and single session tickets are $9 (general) and $6 (students).
The Eagles (26-7) won the OVC regular season championship and won the tournament title last weekend at home to earn their first NCAA Tournament berth. MSU finished 19-1 in the OVC this season and won 23 of its last 25 overall matches.
Purdue (27-4) earned the fifth national seed in the bracket and finished second in the Big Ten with a 16-4 conference mark. The Boilermakers are making their 14th NCAA Tournament appearance and have hosted NCAA matches seven previous years, including 2010.
MSU and Purdue had three common opponents in 2011. Purdue defeated Michigan twice in the regular season and also knocked off Louisville and OVC member Jacksonville State. The Eagles dropped two close contests to Michigan on opening weekend at home, defeated JSU twice and fell to Louisville this past Saturday.
Gordon believes the Eagles can give Purdue a tough matchup.
"One of the things that we've been able to do farily well is defend a strong left side attack and they have one of the best outside hitters in the country, so we'll be tested there," he said. "One of the things that has been solid for us all year has been our defense and we'll have to be tough again against Purdue. We also would like to continue to have a strong and aggressive service game and try to get them out of system."
