LAS CRUCES, N.M – For the second consecutive season, the New Mexico State Volleyball team made the NCAA Volleyball Tournament when the field was announced on ESPN-U, Sunday, Nov. 25.

The Aggies (26-5) will take on Louisiana State University (24-7) at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin, Texas at 3:00 p.m. (MST), Friday, Nov. 30.  The Tigers, like the NMSU, were an at-large bid.  LSU was selected after they won their third straight Southeastern Conference Western Division Championship. 

“I haven’t seen much of them, but I think we can match-up well with them,” head coach Mike Jordan said.  “We would like to advance in the tournament and it would be great to face Texas again.”

The Aggies faced No. 4 Texas earlier this season, losing 3-0.  The Longhorns were an automatic qualifier from the Big 12 Conference and will take on Texas State, the automatic qualifier out of the Southland Conference, in the second match on Friday at 6 p.m.

If NMSU is able to pull-off a victory against the Tigers, they will play the winner of the Texas-Texas State match on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 6:30 p.m.

Teams winning both matches will move on to regional play Dec. 7 and 8. The pre-determined regional sites are Stanford, Calif.; Gainesville, Fla.; University Park, Penn.; and Madison, Wisc. The Regional Finals for LSU's bracket will be held in Gainesville, Fla., home of No. 13 national seed Florida. The regional winners will advance to the semifinals and final hosted by Sacramento State and the Sacramento Sports Commission at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif., on Dec. 13 and 15.

NMSU is making its second-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, and its fourth in five years.  The Aggies played in the NCAA Tournament in 2003, 2004, and 2006.  They lost in the first round each time.

“Our goal is to advance in the tournament,” Jordan said.  “This is the first time since 2003 that we haven’t played a team in the first round on their home court.”

The Aggies lost the BYU in 2003 in Honolulu, Hawai’i in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  The next year NMSU fell to No. 9 San Diego on their home court and in 2006 the Aggies dropped their tournament match to Colorado on their floor.

NMSU is 2-2 against the Tigers.  The last time the two teams met, LSU won 3-0 in the UBNM/Jones Intercable Classic, in Albuquerque, N.M., Sept. 13, 1996.  NMSU won 2-0 in the first ever meeting with the Tigers in the Lamar Invitational in Beaumont, Texas, Oct. 2, 1982.

The Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-10 led all conferences with six teams selected each. The SEC garnered five teams in the field while the West Coast and Missouri Valley Conferences each have four teams in the tournament.   The Western Athletic Conference added two teams to the tournament, including NMSU and Hawai’i.

The match will be broadcast on the radio at KSNM AM 570 with Kyle Doperalski giving the play-by-play action. 

STANFORD, CALIFORNIA REGIONAL

November 30 and December 1 at Stanford, California
No. 1 Stanford (27-2) vs. Santa Clara (19-11)
Minnesota (18-12) vs. Sacramento St. (28-7)

November 30 and December 1 at Athens, Ohio
Purdue (18-13) vs. Ohio (26-5)
Xavier (24-10) vs. No. 16 Cal Poly (21-7)

November 30 and December 1 at Manhattan, Kansas
No. 9 Kansas St. (22-8) vs. Tulsa (27-8)
Oregon (20-10) vs. Missouri St. (25-7)

November 30 and December 1 at Clemson, South Carolina
Alabama (15-14) vs. Clemson (28-3)
Alabama A&M (15-9) vs. No. 8 UCLA (20-10)

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA REGIONAL

November 30 and December 1 at Los Angeles, California
No. 5 USC (25-4) vs. Pepperdine (18-10)
Long Beach St. (25-6) vs. UNLV (24-5)

November 30 and December 1 at Queens, New York
Princeton (22-3) vs. Delaware (30-4)
Long Island (23-13) vs. No. 12 St. John’s (N.Y.) (31-3)

November 29 and 30 at Gainesville, Florida
No. 13 Florida (27-2) vs. Col. of Charleston (26-7)
Florida A&M (18-7) vs. Oklahoma (21-9)

November 30 and December 1 at Austin, Texas
New Mexico St. (26-5) vs. LSU (24-7)
Texas St. (21-11) vs. No. 4 Texas (24-3)

UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA REGIONAL

 November 30 and December 1 at University Park, Pennsylvania
No. 3 Penn St. (28-2) vs. Siena (24-7)
Albany (N.Y.) (23-9) vs. Cleveland St. (23-8)

November 30 and December 1 at Ann Arbor, Michigan
Michigan (22-10) vs. Miami (Ohio) (20-10)
Illinois St. (21-11) vs. No. 14 Colorado St. (22-7)

November 30 and December 1 at Louisville, Kentucky
No. 11 Hawaii (26-5) vs. Tennessee St. (20-13)
Middle Tenn. (33-2) vs. Louisville (22-7)

November 30 and December 1 at Seattle, Washington
BYU (21-7) vs. Mississippi (25-7)
Missouri (17-12) vs. *No. 6 Washington (26-3)

MADISON, WISCONSIN REGIONAL

November 30 and December 1 at Madison, Wisconsin
No. 7 Wisconsin (25-4) vs. Northern Iowa (22-10)
Iowa St. (17-13) vs. San Diego (21-7)

November 30 and December 1 at Durham, North Carolina
Duke (24-6) vs. American (26-7)
Liberty (27-8) vs. No. 10 California (22-7)

November 30 and December 1 at Dayton, Ohio
No. 15 Dayton (32-1) vs. Lipscomb (20-11)
Kentucky (22-9) vs. Michigan St. (19-13)

November 30 and December 1 at Lincoln, Nebraska
Wichita St. (26-5) vs. Western Ky. (27-8)

South Dakota St. (25-10) vs. No. 2 Nebraska (27-1)