Nov. 28, 2004

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Thirteen will have to be a lucky number for the UC Santa Barbara women's volleyball team.

Currently riding a 13-match winning streak, the Gauchos were handed a No. 13 seed when the 64-team NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship field was announced Sunday and will face Alabama A&M in first round action on Friday, Dec. 3 in Atlanta. Host school Georgia Tech will square off with Georgia in the Friday's other opening round match at 5:00 p.m. EST/2:00 PST in O'Keefe Gymnasium, followed by UCSB vs. AAMU at approximately 7:00/4:00. The winners of each contest will meet on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 2:00 p.m. EST/11:00 a.m. PST for the right to advance to the Regional Semifinals, held in Minneapolis on Friday, Dec. 10.

"After last year, we were prepared to go out-of-state. Compared to some of the other teams from California, I think we got a pretty fair draw; I think we were rewarded for winning the Big West [Conference] with the No. 13 seed," Santa Barbara head coach Kathy Gregory said. "I don't know much about Alabama A&M, but I do know that both Georgia and Georgia Tech had some quality wins and it will be a tough place to play."

The Gauchos - currently ranked 17th nationally - finished the regular season at 23-3 overall and 16-2 in Big West play en route to their third consecutive league championship. UCSB posted an 11-3 record against teams which also qualified for the Big Dance; five fellow Big West members also received berths in the NCAA field of 64. In addition, Santa Barbara remains one of only four programs in the country to qualify for all 24 NCAA Championship dating back to its inception in 1981, joining Pacific, Penn State and Stanford with that distinction.

Alabama A&M advanced to the tourney after capturing its fifth straight Southwest Athletic Conference title. The Bulldogs currently own a 22-5 overall record and went 8-0 in SWAC regular season play before winning the league tourney with a 3-1 win over Grambling State on Nov. 13. Senior outside hitter Phylis Hetie - the conference player of the year - averages a team-high 5.10 kills per game for AAMU. This will be the first-ever meeting between Santa Barbara and Alabama A&M, which is located in Normal, Ala.

On the other side of the bracket, Georgia Tech went 25-6 overall and won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title with a perfect 16-0 mark, but was then upset by Clemson in the league tourney semifinals on Nov. 19. Georgia is an at-large qualifier out of the Southeastern Conference, posting an 18-11 overall record and 9-7 mark in league play, placing the Bulldogs fifth. UGA concluded its regular season with a 3-0 non-conference home loss on Nov. 23 to the same Yellow Jacket squad it will face on Friday. UCSB has never faced Georgia but is 2-0 all-time vs. Georgia Tech, most recently sweeping the Jackets on Sept. 9, 1999 en route to victory at the Courtyard by Marriot Classic in Atlanta.

Live "Gametracker" scoring for all matches in O'Keefe Gymnasium will be available at www.ucsbgauchos.com. For ticket information, please call the Georgia Tech ticket office at 1-888-TECH-TIX.