Kansas selected to host NCAA Volleyball Championship First & Second Rounds

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LAWRENCE, Kan. – The University of Kansas has been selected to host the NCAA Volleyball Championship First and Second Rounds for the fourth consecutive season with a program-best No. 9 overall seed in the 64-team field revealed on Sunday night.

The Jayhawks are among seven elite programs to host the first and second rounds of the tournament in the last four seasons, joining Stanford, Penn State, Nebraska, Texas, Washington, and Florida.

“We are excited to be the No. 9 seed – it is our highest seed in program history,” KU head coach Ray Bechard said. “We have a lot of really good teams coming to Lawrence, Kansas, and it should be a pretty great week of volleyball. I was also happy that we got five teams for the Big 12 Conference in. I think that speaks well to our conference.”

Kansas will host Missouri, Missouri State, and Furman beginning on Thursday at Horejsi Family Athletics Center. Missouri faces Missouri State at 4 p.m., followed by KU-Furman at 6:30 p.m. Winners of the first round matches will compete on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Central.

“Horejsi has been great to us over the years and this season,” Bechard said. “It was a thrill to play in Allen Fieldhouse (during past NCAA tournaments), but there is a different feel to that for our student-athletes. We are very comfortable in Horejsi. It is the place we practice every day. It is the place we love to compete in. It is the place that gives us the best chance to succeed.”

All three matches will be televised on ESPN3 through the WatchESPN app or website.

KU’s fourth-straight appearance in the tournament also sets a program record for consecutive bids in the NCAA Championship, officially making senior Tiana Dockery the first Jayhawk to play in four NCAA postseasons during all four years of her collegiate career.

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The stage is set #ncaavb #kuvball pic.twitter.com/pWIlRmSaTU

— Kansas Volleyball (@KUVolleyball) November 30, 2015