For Immediate Release: November 27, 2005
Contact: Thomas Moore II (sports@binghamton.edu)
Phone: 607-777-2956

Binghamton volleyball headed to Penn State for NCAA first round match
Bearcats (20-11) will meet second-seeded Nittany Lions (29-2) this Friday night

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VESTAL, N.Y. - The Binghamton volleyball team (20-11) found out its reward for winning the America East Championship, a NCAA match up with one of the best teams in the country. The squad is headed to State College, Pa. for a first-round encounter with No. 2 seed Penn State (29-2) on Friday, December 2. The teams will play at Rec Hall at 7:30 p.m. Cornell (19-5) will play Long Island (25-13) at 5 p.m. in the other match at State College, with the two winners meeting in Saturday's second round at 7 p.m.

Penn State is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation in the CSTV/AVCA Coaches Poll. The Nittany Lions have only lost to Stanford, the defending national champion and to Nebraska who is currently ranked No. 1 in both the NCAA tournament and CSTV/AVCA Coaches Poll. Penn State won the national title in 1999 and have been in all 25 NCAA women's volleyball championship tournaments.

Binghamton received one of 31 automatic bids granted to conference champions. The remaining 33 slots were awarded to at-large teams. The top 16 teams in the draw are seeded.

The Bearcats are making their first appearance in the NCAA Division I tournament. As a Division III program, Binghamton advanced to the national tournament in 1995 and 1997.

The women are the eighth BU team to advance to the NCAA tournament in the last four years, joining the men's soccer team (2003), women's soccer team (2004), men's tennis team (2003, 2004, 2005) and golf team (2003, 2004).