Clarksville, TN – In its second ever NCAA Volleyball Championship Tournament appearance, Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team will make a cross-country trek to Los Angeles and historic Pauley Pavilion for a 10:00pm (central time), December 1st, match versus the tournament’s number 15 overall-seed UCLA.
The Governors (30-5) earned their bid to the tournament by winning the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship back on November 18th in the Dunn Center, while nationally-ranked UCLA (19-10) earned a national seed despite tying for fifth-place in the Pac-12 Conference.
“I’m kind of surprised on where we are going,” Austin Peay head coach Taylor Mott said. “They talked about being more regional and everything I’ve seen before the selection show had us going to Iowa State or Creighton.
“I wasn’t expecting UCLA in any way, shape or form, but we’re very excited. Most of the girls have never been out there and it will be way more exciting than going to Iowa or some were like that.”
Also playing at the UCLA site will be Cal Poly (26-2), champions of the Big West Conference and Denver (23-5), who won the Summit League regular-season and tournament titles.
“Just the history of volleyball at UCLA and getting a chance to play at Pauley Pavilion is exciting,” Mott said. “And the girls are excited and that’s what’s important.”
The matchup will be the first for Austin Peay versus a team from the Pac-12, while UCLA is 2-0 all-time versus OVC teams, with wins over Eastern Kentucky and Murray State.
In fact, UCLA has hosted area-rivals Lipscomb and Murray State in the previous two season’s NCAA Tournament opening-round matches.
While UCLA has been a fixture in the NCAA Tournament for many years the Govs can lean on coach Mott’s experience in the NCAA Tournament having led her former school, Flager College, to three straight NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship Tournaments – including a Final Four berth in 2009.
“Something I kind of learned the hard way is the first time is always the most amazing time,” she said. “I’m going to try to emphasize with the players and with my staff enjoy every second of it, because if or when it ever happens again it’s never as special as the first time.
“The other thing I learned is not to make it any more of the match than it really is, we’re going to practice and prepare the way we always practice and prepare and whatever happens, happens.”
Govs fans not able to travel out to the west coast to watch the match in person, can watch free video and audio on UCLABruins.com.