Tulane Volleyball Not Selected for NCAA Tournament
Nov 25, 2007 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 25, 2007
NCAA Tournament Field | NCAA Tournament Bracket
Despite a 28-6 overall record and an RPI in the mid-30s, the Tulane volleyball team was not among the 33 at-large selections as the NCAA Volleyball Championship field of 64 was announced Sunday night. The Green Wave had the most wins of any team left out of the tournament, and missed the tournament despite a 5-1 record vs teams selected.
The Green Wave, ranked 34 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association national rankings; was number 33 in the Rich Kern simulated RPI and entered selection Sunday tied for fifth in the NCAA in wins.
Of the seven teams in the NCAA with at least 28 wins, Dayton (32), St. John's (31), Penn State (28) and Clemson (28) were selected as hosts for the first and second rounds, while Middle Tennessee State (31) and Delaware (30) earned automatic bids.
"After last night's big win at LSU, tonight's announcement was especially disheartening," head coach Liz Kritza said.
"I felt we had met the criteria put forth by the selection committee: a strong RPI, a quality record against teams that were selected for the tournament, and an 11-1 finish to our season," she continued. "Getting slighted for an at-large bid when you stack up side-by-side with teams that made it in really makes you wonder what the selection committee values."
Tulane went 1-1 vs the top 50 in the AVCA national rankings; 5-1 vs teams which qualified for the NCAA Tournament; and 8-6 vs teams ranked in their region by the AVCA.
Seven teams were given at-large bids by the NCAA selection committee despite double-digit losses: Pepperdine (18-10), Michigan (22-10), Illinois State (21-11), Missouri (17-12), Iowa State (17-13), Michigan State (19-13) and Alabama (15-14).
The most notable at-large recipient was Alabama, which finished 15-14 overall and 12-8 in SEC play, third in the West division behind LSU, at NCAA at-large recipient. The Tide suffered two losses to the Tigers, a team the Green Wave defeated Saturday in Baton Rouge. The Crimson Tide also lost a non-conference match to Conference USA member UAB, which split the season series with Tulane, knocking the Wave out of the C-USA tournament.
For Tulane, the 2007 season will go down as one of the top seasons in school history. The Wave won 28 matches for the fifth time in school history, set single-season records in kills, assists, kills per game, assists per game, and hitting percentage.
Five members of the Tulane volleyball team earned All Conference USA honors, as junior outside hitter Sara Radosevic, junior right side Bridget Wells and sophomore outside Ksenija Vlaskovic earned First Team All Conference USA. Junior middle blocker Jen Linder and sophomore libero Jenn Miller earned Second Team honors. Miller was named Libero of the Year.
Radosevic became Tulane's single-season aces leader, and moved up to second on the Wave's all-time kills list (1,469). She led Tulane with a career-high tying 34 kills in the win at LSU. With her career 5.23 KPG, she could reach Alicia Robertson's (1991-94) career mark (1,963) in 95 more games.
Miller once again set a new single-season record for digs in a season. After becoming the first Tulane player in history with 500 digs last year (507), she became the first Wave player to hit 600, with 609 in 2007.
Wells, a junior right side hitter, turned in a breakout performance, improving her hitting percentage by almost .200 points to finish in the top 10 in Conference USA at .323.
Vlaskovic, a sophmore outside hitter, finished sixth in C-USA in kills per game with 4.41, joining Radosevic among the single-season leaders in kills at Tulane.
The Green Wave, which featured no seniors on the 2007 squad, will return all seven starters next season. All 13 members of the team have at least one year olf eligibility remaining, although junior defensive specialist Ashley Bernards, an ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree and Tulane's 2006-07 Scholar Athlete of the Year will have the option of graduating early. She owns a 3.95 GPA and can complete her degree in just three years if she chooses.
