Michigan State University Athletics
Spartans Head to Seattle For NCAA Tournament
11/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
East Lansing, Mich. -- Michigan State has earned an at-large bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Volleyball Tournament, and will play Sun Belt champion Arkansas State in the first round on Friday at 8 pm ET. MSU will play its games at Washington, the national No. 5 seed, which will take on Summit League champion Denver in the other first-round match.
NCAA Division I Volleyball Bracket
The Spartans are making their fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, and bring a four-game winning streak into the Tournament. The Spartans finished the regular season with a 18-13 overall record, and were 10-10 in the Big Ten Conference. The Big Ten sent nine teams into the NCAA Tournament field.
"We're thrilled to be a part of the tournament again," said head coach Cathy George. "We were really encouraged when we saw that four Big Ten teams were among the top seven national seeds â€" it really validated what we had felt all along - that the Big Ten was the toughest, strongest conference in the country this year.
MSU is making its 18th overall NCAA Tournament appearance, and earned its fifth consecutive at-large bid to the Championship, the second-longest streak in school history. MSU made it to the second round in 2011 and 2014, and advanced to the Sweet 16 both 2012 and 2013. MSU's five-year NCAA Tournament streak is the second longest in program history, and the Spartans have won at least one game in the Tournament in each of the last four trips, a program record. MSU made ten consecutive NCAA Tournament fields from 1994-2003, and is now making its eighth appearance in the 11-year tenure of current coach Cathy George.
MSU's streak of five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances is the third-longest in the Big Ten, behind Penn State and Nebraska.
