Volleyball

NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship Selections Announced; Three SCIAC Teams Included
November 6, 2006

Los Angeles, California - November 5, 2006. The NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Committee announced today the field of 60 teams for the 2006 Division III Women's Volleyball Championship. The top seven in the West Region have advanced to the 2006 NCAA Division III West Region Championships, and include three SCIAC teams: University of La Verne, California Lutheran University and University of Redlands.

The first round will be held November 9-11 at Russell J. Frantz Athletic Court on the campus of # 1 seed the University of La Verne.

La Verne, the three-time defending West Region champion, gets the top seed for the tournament along with a first-round bye. The Leopards have completed their regular season with a 27-2 overall record and earned a seventh straight Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title this year finishing 13-1 in league play.

Cal Lutheran (15-5), finished second in the SCIAC and is making a second consecutive trip to the NCAA playoffs earning the fourth seed. NCAA Division III independent Cal State East Bay (27-8) is tied with La Verne for the most wins in the West Region field and is seeded fifth.

SCIAC member Redlands (20-6) earns its first postseason trip since 1993 and is seeded sixth while Division III independent Colorado College (23-10) rounds out the field as the seventh seed.

Linfield earns the #2 seed by virtue of earning the automatic berth from the Northwest Conference. The 14th-ranked Wildcats (21-2) wrapped up a share of its first NWC championship since 2003. Pacific Lutheran (20-6), which also earned a share of the NWC crown, claims the third seed in the West Region field. The Lutes will be making their second postseason trip in three seasons.

Thursday's matchups include #2 Linfield facing #7 Colorado College at 3:30 pm, #3 Pacific Lutheran against #6 Redlands at 6 pm and #4 Cal Lutheran against #5 Cal State East Bay at 8:30 pm.

La Verne will meet the winner of the Cal Lutheran-Cal State East Bay match at 7 pm preceded by the winner of Linfield-Colorado College against the Pacific Lutheran-Redlands winner at 4:30 pm on Friday.

The final tournament game is scheduled for Saturday at 7:00 p.m. as the winners of the Friday matches will face-off.