Iowa State NCAA Tournament Bound

AMES, Iowa ? The Iowa State volleyball team has been selected as an at-large bid to participate in the 2006 NCAA Volleyball Championships. The Cyclones (20-10), who finished tied for fourth in the Big 12 with a 12-8 record, will face Wisconsin-Milwaukee (24-5) at 5 p.m. on Friday at the UW Field House in Madison, Wis. Should the Cyclones win, they would face the winner of Wisconsin (24-6) and Notre Dame (18-13) Saturday at 7 p.m. The Badgers are the No. 10 seed nationally.

Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson was an assistant at Wisconsin for eight years (1997-2004), coaching under current Badger coach Pete Waite for the final six years of her tenure at UW.

The championship appearance marks just the second all-time for Iowa State, which last made the tournament in 1995. That Cyclone team defeated Idaho (3-0) before falling at Notre Dame (0-3) in the second round.

This is UWM's sixth NCAA Tournament appearance, but its first since 2002.

The Panthers earned a berth in the tourney by winning the Horizon League Tournament in Dayton last weekend. Milwaukee also won its fourth-straight Horizon League regular season title this year and will enter the postseason riding a school-record 15-match winning streak.

The Panthers are led by a pair of senior middle blockers, Horizon League Player of the Year Cheryl Hegemann and Horizon League Tournament Most Valuable Player Sarah Moore. Milwaukee's regular starting lineup also includes seniors Melissa David and Monica Ferguson, juniors Leanne Felsing and Jamie Gabrielsen and sophomore libero Becky Peters. Head coach Kathy Litzau earned her seventh Horizon League Coach of the Year honor this season.

Tickets, which must be purchased in a three-match, two-day package until the day of the tournament, are $12 for a reserved seat. General admission tickets are $10 for adults and $6 for seniors, youth and students. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Wisconsin ticket office at 1-800-GO BADGERS or on line at www.uwbadgers.com.

Check back to Cyclones.com for more information, which will be updated as it becomes available.

Iowa State University Athletics

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