Hawai'i is headed for Hollywood.
The No. 6 Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (28-3), seeded seventh, will open the 2008 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship in Los Angeles against the Belmont Bruins (25-7). The first round match is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 5, at 5 p.m. (3 p.m. HST).
The No. 12 USC Trojans (16-11) are hosting the first and second rounds at the Galen Center and will play the No. 15 San Diego Toreros (23-4) in the other first round match.
The winners will meet on Saturday, Dec. 6, in the second round at 6 p.m. (4 p.m. HST), while the losing teams' seasons will come to an end.
"I'm pretty excited," senior libero Tara Hittle said. "Obviously it's the playoffs, so no (team) is going to be easy."
And for Hittle, there is a bit more incentive to make it past the first and second rounds.
Should the the Rainbow Wahine advance, they will head to Fort Collins, Colo., for the regional hosted by Colorado State. Hittle is from Colorado Springs.
"I'm pumped to possibly play in my home state," Hittle said. "But first we've got to take care of the first and second rounds."
The 'Bows earned the Western Athletic Conference's automatic bid in the tournament by winning the conference's tournament title on Nov. 23. Belmont won the Atlantic Sun Conference and San Diego won the West Coast Conference. USC earned an at-large bid out of the Pac-10.
"At this point, there is no next game," said senior outside hitter Jessica Keefe. "It's win or go home."
This will be the 16th-straight appearance in the NCAA tournament and 27th overall for the 'Bows.
Fellow WAC school New Mexico State earned an at-large bid and will open with St. Mary's in Berkeley, Calif. Eight teams on the 'Bows' schedule advanced to the NCAA tournament, including top-seeded Penn State, No. 5-seed Washington, No. 6-seed Minnesota and No. 14-seed UCLA.
Sidebar:
Houston tops 2,000-kill mark.
Senior outside hitter Jamie Houston made her final appearance in the Stan Sheriff Center a special one.
As the No. 6 Rainbow Wahine volleyball team swept the Cal Poly Mustangs 25-17, 25-19, 25-23 last Friday, Houston became just second Rainbow Wahine, after All-American and Olympic-medalist Kim Willoughby, to reach 2,000 career kills.
After her 15-kill performance against the Mustangs, Houston has racked up 398 kills this season and 2,009 kills in her career; Willoughby finished her collegiate career with 2,598.
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