Screams rang through the walls inside Champp's restaurant in Eastwood Towne Center in Lansing Township on Monday night as the MSU volleyball team found out it was going to the NCAA tournament.
The MSU volleyball team doesn't have to travel far. In fact, they don't have to travel at all. For the first time in four years, MSU is getting the opportunity to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
"I was just hoping to get in the tournament," head coach Chuck Erbe said. "This is the last thing in the world I could have anticipated."
Erbe looked more than shocked to see East Lansing next to his group's name, as the coaches and team had no thoughts of hosting and were waiting to see where they would be playing.
What happened to allow the Spartans to host was the luck of the draw.
Within the Spartans' group were Dayton, Valparaiso and No. 9 Nebraska. One would think Nebraska, being the best team in the group, would host the first two rounds.
The selection committee felt otherwise because Nebraska is the site for the Regional Finals and the group would filter into that Regional. Thus, Nebraska would have a home-court advantage over No. 7 UCLA, which received the eight seed and No. 1 Southern Cal, which is the top seed in the tournament. This resulted in the selection committee awarding the Spartans hosting rights.
The senior class, which has brought so much to the MSU program, now has at least one more chance to play in front of a home crowd at Jenison Field House. This group has been pretty successful in the tournament, winning at least one game in each of the last three NCAA Tournaments.
Last season, the Spartans defeated George Mason and Notre Dame to advance to the Sweet 16. They then lost to eventual national champion USC.
In 2001, MSU beat Notre Dame but lost to host-school Wisconsin. The Spartans won another first-round game in 2000, beating Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but lost to host-school UCLA.
In 1999, the Spartans defeated Cal Poly but fell to Pepperdine in the second round.
MSU last hosted NCAA Tournament action in 1998. That year, the Spartans lost a close five-game thriller to Pepperdine.
This will be the tenth straight tournament bid for MSU, which has accumulated an 11-10 record over that span.
"There have only been 12 teams in the nation who have made the NCAA tournament 10 years in a row," Erbe said. "That is something we are extremely proud of and it's representative of establishing a tradition in our program."
