Congratulations to former HCS player Kristina Keltner and Army for making the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament
This is the first time the Black Knights of West Point have received a bid into the tournament.
Congratulations Kristina! We are proud of you!
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - After capturing the 2009 Patriot League title, the Army volleyball team had to wait a week to learn of its NCAA Tournament fate. The wait was well worth it, as the Black Knights drew the University of Pennsylvania, 2009 champions of the Ivy League, in the opening round. No. 1 overall seed Penn State, which will host the first and second rounds in University Park, Pa., and America East champion Binghamton join Army and Penn in what was the first bracket revealed during Sunday's Selection Show on ESPNews.
"The team couldn't be more thrilled about drawing Penn in the first round," said 2009 Patriot League Coach of the Year Alma Kovaci. "I kept saying that I wanted to avoid playing Penn State right off the bat because I want the team to have an unbelievable experience. Penn is a team that we are familiar with and they play a very similar style to ours. I am grateful to the selection committee for showing Army the respect that we have earned with some quality wins this season."
Army and Penn will square-off in Friday's first match beginning at 5 p.m. Penn State and Binghamton will follow at 7:30 p.m. The winners of both matches will clash on Saturday, Dec. 5, at 7:30 p.m. All matches will be played at Penn State's Rec Hall.
"With such a rich and storied tradition and one of the strongest fan bases in the country, we are very excited to play at Penn State," Kovaci said. "It will undoubtedly be a great atmosphere to play in and it's not too far from West Point. Hopefully that means that we will get a lot of support from our fans and the West Point community. We are just thrilled to be a part of this tournament."
Army (26-5) won the Patriot League's automatic bid when the Black Knights dethroned eight-time Patriot League champion American in a stunning sweep in last Sunday's title match. Army will be making its first appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament on Friday.
Penn (22-5) will be making its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2003 after defeating Princeton, 3-1, in the Ivy League Championship match on Wednesday night in Philadelphia. Army swept Princeton at the Delaware Invitational earlier this year, while the Black Knights also collected a victory over Penn during spring tournament play. Army and Penn met during the regular season in 2007 when the Quakers swept the Black Knights in the second match of the American Volleyball Tournament in Washington, D.C.
Army and Penn have met six times in program history. The Quakers own a 5-1 advantage in the all-time series, which dates back to 1982. The Black Knights won the initial meeting, 2-0, at the Princeton Invitational and have lost five-straight matches in the series since.
The likely second-round opponent for either Army or Penn will be the likes of Penn State (32-0), which enters the tournament riding an incredible 96-match win streak. The two-time defending national champions have not lost a single match since Sept. 15, 2007, when Stanford beat the Nittany Lions (3-2). Penn State comes into the tournament as the overall No. 1 seed and is joined by No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Florida State and No. 4 Stanford among the elite teams in the bracket.
Should Binghamton (15-15) pull off the most unlikely of upsets, Army defeated the Bearcats by a 3-2 score in the final match of the 2009 West Point Challenge on Sept. 20.
"The team couldn't be more thrilled about drawing Penn in the first round," said 2009 Patriot League Coach of the Year Alma Kovaci. "I kept saying that I wanted to avoid playing Penn State right off the bat because I want the team to have an unbelievable experience. Penn is a team that we are familiar with and they play a very similar style to ours. I am grateful to the selection committee for showing Army the respect that we have earned with some quality wins this season."
Army and Penn will square-off in Friday's first match beginning at 5 p.m. Penn State and Binghamton will follow at 7:30 p.m. The winners of both matches will clash on Saturday, Dec. 5, at 7:30 p.m. All matches will be played at Penn State's Rec Hall.
"With such a rich and storied tradition and one of the strongest fan bases in the country, we are very excited to play at Penn State," Kovaci said. "It will undoubtedly be a great atmosphere to play in and it's not too far from West Point. Hopefully that means that we will get a lot of support from our fans and the West Point community. We are just thrilled to be a part of this tournament."
Army (26-5) won the Patriot League's automatic bid when the Black Knights dethroned eight-time Patriot League champion American in a stunning sweep in last Sunday's title match. Army will be making its first appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament on Friday.
Penn (22-5) will be making its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2003 after defeating Princeton, 3-1, in the Ivy League Championship match on Wednesday night in Philadelphia. Army swept Princeton at the Delaware Invitational earlier this year, while the Black Knights also collected a victory over Penn during spring tournament play. Army and Penn met during the regular season in 2007 when the Quakers swept the Black Knights in the second match of the American Volleyball Tournament in Washington, D.C.
Army and Penn have met six times in program history. The Quakers own a 5-1 advantage in the all-time series, which dates back to 1982. The Black Knights won the initial meeting, 2-0, at the Princeton Invitational and have lost five-straight matches in the series since.
The likely second-round opponent for either Army or Penn will be the likes of Penn State (32-0), which enters the tournament riding an incredible 96-match win streak. The two-time defending national champions have not lost a single match since Sept. 15, 2007, when Stanford beat the Nittany Lions (3-2). Penn State comes into the tournament as the overall No. 1 seed and is joined by No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Florida State and No. 4 Stanford among the elite teams in the bracket.
Should Binghamton (15-15) pull off the most unlikely of upsets, Army defeated the Bearcats by a 3-2 score in the final match of the 2009 West Point Challenge on Sept. 20.
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