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University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Earn No. 7 Overall Seed For NCAA Tournament
November 28, 2016 | Volleyball
INDIANAPOLIS – The 2016 ACC Champion Tar Heels were selected as the No. 7 overall seed for the NCAA Volleyball Championship and will host the opening rounds at Carmichael Arena on Dec. 2-3. The Tar Heels will take on High Point at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 2, following a neutral match between James Madison and Coastal Carolina at 4:30 p.m. The winners of the two First Round matches will square off at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3, for a bid to NCAA Regionals.
“To be a top-seven seed in the country is outstanding,” said head coach Joe Sagula. “To get that recognition is something we've earned and worked for all season. You work so hard all season long to get a top 16 seed, and to be able to do that and guarantee that we'll be here all week to train, to sleep in a little bit, and to be ready to play at home is just fantastic. I think it says a lot about the program and where we've come. The fact that we're a top-10 team just legitimizes what we've done all season long, how we won this conference and played like champions. To move forward and to say we can be recognized as a team that's going to be a contender in the national picture, hopefully we get as far as we can.”
Carolina will make its 18th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and seventh straight. The Tar Heels will host the opening rounds for the sixth time and third year in a row after earning a national seed for the third time in history. The No. 7 seed matches the highest in school history, as UNC also earned the No. 7 seed for the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
“It's really, really cool,” said senior libero Sheila Doyle. “I was sitting with Julia [Scoles] and Greer [Moseman], two of our freshmen, right before it started, and I said, 'You know, it's kind of funny. This is my last one and this is your first one.' I tried to tell them to really enjoy it because all of a sudden, it's your last one. So, it's really exciting, we've worked hard to see that seven seed come up and it was really, really cool.”
Contrary to previous seasons, NCAA Regionals are no longer held at preselected sites and will instead be hosted by the highest remaining seed in each region. No. 7 Carolina shares a region with No. 2 Minnesota, No. 10 UCLA and No. 15 Missouri. Barring upsets, Minnesota will host the NCAA Regional on Dec. 9-10, with the Chapel Hill winner facing the Los Angeles winner in the Regional Semifinal. Should Carolina advance and Minnesota lose in the first or second round, the Tar Heels would be the highest remaining seed in the region and host on Dec. 9-10.
The NCAA Championship will be held on Dec. 15 and 17 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. It will be co-hosted by Ohio State, who heads to No. 14 Kansas State for opening round play, and the Greater Columbus Sports Commission.
“This team continues to talk about being a great family,” said Sagula. “They really care about each other, and we always talk about being great teammates. They look to their left, to their right, to the person in the room and on the court, and they want to play for that person. This team exemplifies that. What we've learned so much about that, when we've been down in matches 0-2 and had to fight our way back in matches throughout the season, is you don't do that unless you're a really tight group. This team cares for each other, they play hard, they work hard, and I think they're just very genuine. Good people working hard together, and that's all you can expect.”
UNC is one of three teams from the ACC that were selected to the 2016 NCAA Tournament, joining Florida State and Pittsburgh. Five of Carolina's eight nonconference opponents earned bids to the postseason, including two of the top three seeds.
“I think we've been looking forward to postseason since summer,” said senior opposite hitter Taylor Treacy. “During ACC's, we were more concerned with maintaining our energy and trying to get better, but now it's a time of excitement. We're trying to amp up our energy and feel more excited than we have all year. This is the time to do it.”
2016 Big Ten Champion Nebraska earned the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament, while fellow Big Ten members Minnesota and Wisconsin earned No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. No. 4 and No. 5 both come from the Big 12, with Texas beating out conference champion Kansas for the right to host NCAA Regionals, followed by No. 6 Stanford.
Three additional Big Ten teams earned national seeds, in No. 9 Michigan State, No. 12 Michigan and No. 16 Penn State, while No. 8 Washington is one of three Pac-12 teams to host. Rounding out the top 16 are No. 11 Florida, No. 13 BYU and No. 14 Kansas State.
“We just have to take it one match at a time,” said Treacy. “I have a good feeling that everyone is about to be playing their best volleyball this weekend and in the weekends to come. We're only going to get better, and it's going to be fun to watch.”
All-session tickets for the First and Second Rounds at Carmichael Arena will be $10 for adults and $6 for students and seniors. Single-day tickets will be $6 for adults or $5 for seniors and students. All tickets will be general admission. Tickets are available online here or by calling (919) 962-2296.
