Nov. 30, 2003
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The 13th-ranked Santa Clara University volleyball team will make its sixth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance this weekend in Seattle as the University of Washington will host the first two rounds on Friday and Saturday.
Joining the Broncos are Northwestern, Utah and 12th-seeded Washington. SCU will face Utah in the opening round Friday night with the winner of that match taking on the winner of the Washington-Northwestern match the following evening.
Santa Clara enters the tournament with a 20-10 overall record and the No. 13 national ranking according to the AVCA. The Broncos finished second in the West Coast Conference with their 11-3 league mark. Utah enters the match with a 21-8 overall record and as a team that is receiving votes in the AVCA poll. They finished second in the Mountain West Conference with their 12-2 conference record.
SCU is battled tested coming into Friday night's matchup, having played 19 of their 30 matches against teams in the field of 64. The Broncos posted a 9-10 record against 2003 tournament teams. Santa Clara has not faced any of the teams in the bracket in Washington during this year but do have a 3-1 all-time record against Utah. The Broncos are 1-2 all-time against Washington and 1-4 all-time versus Northwestern.
The winner of the bracket in Seattle will take on the winner of the bracket in Palo Alto, Calif. that contains Stanford, Sacramento State, Pacific and San Francisco. That match would be played on either the 11th or 12 of December in Long Beach, Calif.
