Cougars Make Field For Ncaa Tournament WSU Gets Tennessee First, Then Prospect Of Facing Defending Champs
The Washington State volleyball team got the expected news Sunday night. And it came in the dreaded good-news, bad-news format.
Yes, the Cougars (18-9) are back in the 64-team NCAA Tournament after a two-year absence. They’ll play Tennessee (23-9) in the first round on Friday at 2 p.m. (PST) at State College, Pa. If they beat the Lady Vols, WSU likely will face defending national champion and three-time runnerup No. 8 Penn State (27-6) Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
“I look at it as `Shoot, poor Penn State has to play us if they win and we win.’ First we have to play Tennessee,” said a jovial Washington State coach Cindy Fredrick, whose six other NCAA Tournament teams have a 5-6 overall record.
The Cougars are one of six Pacific-10 Conference teams to make the field. League co-champ Arizona earned the automatic bid while WSU, UCLA, USC, Stanford and Arizona State earned at-large bids.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Washington Eagles (19-11) of the Big Sky Conference are not going back to the tournament after qualifying the past two seasons. Only conference champion Sacramento State (21-11) made this year’s field.
The Cougars, seeded fifth in the Pacific Division, and the Lady Vols, seeded 12th, are unranked nationally. The Lady Vols lost to No. 9 Florida in the semifinal round of the Southeastern Conference tournament. This will be the second time the Cougars will have faced the Vols. WSU won the other meeting 3-2 in 1988.
“I know their coach (Rob Patrick) was an assistant coach at Stanford … and they wear orange,” Fredrick said. “But I’m sure Farok (WSU assistant coach Mashallah Farokhmanesh) is calling for video right now.”
Penn State, the No. 3 seed in the region, plays James Madison (21-9) in its opener. The Nittany Lions - semifinalists at the Spokane Arena in 1997 - are one of four teams that have earned bids in all 20 championships. Pacific, Stanford and UC Santa Barbara also are back for the 20th time.
As for leaving on Wednesday and traveling cross country instead of hosting at Bohler Gym, the Cougars are taking it in stride.
“If you look at the option, playing at Penn State or not being in the tournament at all, I’d take playing at Penn State,” Fredrick said.
First-team All-Pac-10 team sophomore LaToya Harris agreed.
“It doesn’t bother me, as long as we’re going,” said the left-side hitter. “This has been very emotional for me. I’m about to cry. We’ll take care of Tennessee and then we play Penn State. It’s great to play a team like that.”