UC SANTA BARBARA OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

Gauchos Earn 21st consecutive tourney birth; possible second-round match with top-ranked Long Beach State looms on Saturday.

Nov. 26, 2001

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Santa Barbara, Calif. -

The 64-team NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament field was announced Monday, with 24th-ranked UC Santa Barbara paired up against the University of San Diego in first round action.

The UCSB-San Diego match will be held on Friday, Nov. 30 at 5:30 p.m. in Long Beach, Calif. Top-ranked and undefeated Long Beach State faces San Diego State at 7:30 p.m. in Friday's other first round contest in the Pyramid. The winners of each match will square off on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m., with the victor advancing to the NCAA Regional Semifinals at a to-be-determined location. KCSB-FM (91.9) will broadcast Friday's match live, and will air Saturday's second-round contest on a tape-delay basis if UCSB is involved.

Santa Barbara is one of only four schools to qualify for all 21 NCAA Tournaments dating back to 1981, with Pacific, Penn State and Stanford being the others. This season the Gauchos enter postseason play with an overall record of 17-13, and finished third in the Big West Conference with a 14-4 league mark. All but one of UCSB's losses this season has been at the hands of a fellow nationally-ranked team.

San Diego, the third place finisher in the West Coast Conference at 10-4, owns a 21-8 overall record. UCSB is 11-1 all-time against the Torreros, with the lone loss coming in the last meeting between the two schools on Sept. 2, 2000.

The Gauchos lost both of their matches to Big West Champion Long Beach State (28-0, 18-0 BWC), but are the only team to push the 49ers to five games this season, doing so in the Pyramid on Sept. 21. Meanwhile San Diego state enters the tournament at 16-12 overall, 8-7 in the Mountain West Conference. UCSB defeated the Aztecs 3-0 on Nov. 23 in the Four Points University Plaza Thanksgiving Tournament in Tucson, Ariz.

Tickets for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament can be obtained by calling the Long Beach State University ticket office at (562) 985-4949 beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 27.