NCAA | Volleyball tournament’s best first-round matchup could be in Seattle

Sure, Washington plays Alabama State. But before that, Michigan vs. LSU looks plenty interesting

• next: Michigan vs. LSU | December 6 | 5PM | Alaska Airlines Arena
• Alabama State @ #3 Washington | December 6 | 7PM

As the 2013 Division 1 NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament begins, the first round will feature 32 matches, with the top 16 teams hosting three other schools at each location.

In many cities, fans will delay arriving until the second match of the night begins, since the later match features the home school. But in Seattle, there is every reason to arrive plenty early, because the undercard could be a great show.

Of all 32 matches, Washington has far and away the greatest disparity between its own RPI (3) and its opponent’s RPI, Alabama State (278). The RPI, remember, is the NCAA’s ranking of all 332 D1 teams, with 1 the highest. The champions of all 32 D1 conferences—including Alabama State—earn automatic bids to the tournament, even if their RPI is lower than 64.

But what’s the closest RPI spread between first round foes? Well, that would be LSU (30) and Michigan (33), two teams that will also be playing in Washington’s Alaska Airlines Arena Friday night. On paper, at least, it could be one of the most competitive matches of the first round.

-photo courtesy University of Michigan Athletics

Using RPI and a bit of instinct, here’s Volleyblog Seattle’s top five most interesting first round matches:

5. MICHIGAN STATE vs OHIO @ Lexington

The Spartans started the season 17-1, including wins over Penn State and Nebraska. Since then, they were 4-10, with their only victories against lower-tier teams. Ohio has won 11 of its past 12, and has an early-season win against Oregon, and narrow 3-2 losses to tournament teams North Carolina and Michigan. Michigan State could be in trouble.

4. WICHITA STATE @ (14) KANSAS

Kansas drew arguably the toughest first-round opponent of any seeded team. Wichita State is 28-6 and has an impressive 35 RPI. The Shockers’ Ashley Andrade has the third-highest hitting percentage in the nation (.468). Kansas (23-7) is coming off a loss to Oklahoma in which the Jayhawks were outblocked 14-4 and hit just .170. The winner of this match faces the Creighton/Arkansas winner; unseeded Creighton’s RPI is a lofty 16.

3. LSU vs MICHIGAN @ Seattle

Both teams struggled this year in tough conferences. Michigan returned most of a team that went all the way to last season’s Final Four, losing in the semis to eventual National Champion Texas. LSU freshman Briana Holman is a big-time blocker (1.55 blocks/set) who will be tested by Michigan’s 6-4 Jennifer Cross (hitting .319).

2. NORTH CAROLINA vs CALIFORNIA @ Madison, WI

This is the third year in a row that the Tar Heels and Bears will meet in the tournament; the past two seasons, North Carolina has prevailed. This season, Cal is riding a five-match losing streak, four of those to teams that are also in this year’s postseason, and all without injured star player Adrienne Gehan. North Carolina has just four losses—all to the ACC’s other three tournament-bound teams (Duke—twice, Florida State and Miami.) Gehan may be back to help answer the question: can a second-tier Pac-12 team compete with a first-tier ACC team on a neutral court?

1. OREGON vs MIAMI (FL) @ Lincoln, NE

Miami’s new head coach is Keno Gandara, formerly on Jim McLaughlin’s staff at Washington. Oregon’s Jim Moore likes to have long, animated conversations with officials during matches, a habit Gandara openly chafed at the past few seasons. Both teams have had recent success after up-and-down seasons; the winner of this match likely gets to take on Nebraska on the Huskers’ home court. Last year, the Ducks beat the Huskers in Omaha.

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FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS:

venue	seeded host team	RPI	opponent	RPI
Austin	(1) Texas	2	Texas St	104
University Park	(2) Penn State	1	LIU Brooklyn	88
Seattle	(3) Washington	5	Alabama St	278
Columbia	(4) Missouri	4	IUPUI	114
Gainesville	(5) Florida	3	Jacksonville	89
Los Angeles	(6) Southern Cal	7	N Hampshire	206
Stanford	(7) Stanford	6	Hampton	192
Lincoln	(8) Nebraska	9	Fairfield	154
San Diego	(9) San Diego	14	UCSB	60
Minneapolis	(10) Minnesota	11	Radford	157
Honolulu	(11) Hawai’i	17	Idaho St	102
Madison	(12) Wisconsin	15	Milwaukee	77
Champaign	(13) Illinois	20	Morehead St	95
Lawrence	(14) Kansas	13	Wichita St	35
Lexington	(15) Kentucky	10	Duquesne	93
Durham	(16) Duke	12	Charleston	65
venue	higher RPI team	RPI	lower RPI team	RPI
Austin	Texas A&M	31	UTSA	46
University Park	Utah	26	Yale	39
Seattle	LSU	30	Michigan	33
Columbia	Purdue	27	Central Ark	44
Gainesville	Florida St	19	Ga. Southern	73
Los Angeles	Colorado St	21	CS Northridge	41
Stanford	Oklahoma	18	Alabama	34
Lincoln	Oregon	25	Miami	52
San Diego	Arizona	24	N Mexico St	91
Minneapolis	Iowa St	23	Colorado	48
Honolulu	BYU	29	Arizona St	49
Madison	North Carolina	22	California	38
Champaign	Marquette	8	Louisville	42
Lawrence	Creighton	16	Arkansas	36
Lexington	Michigan St	28	Ohio	40
Durham	Georgia	32	American	45