UNC set to face No. 2 San Diego in NCAA Tournament

Thursday, December 1

San Diego, Calif.

8:30 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

University of San Diego

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11/30/2022 9:41:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

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GREELEY, Colo.—Two of the nation's longest winning steaks will be pitted against each other in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday as Northern Colorado takes on No. 3-ranked San Diego.

Making its seventh trip to the national tournament, Northern Colorado will carry a 14-match winning streak after capturing the Big Sky Tournament title on Saturday.
San Diego, the West Coast Conference champions, owns the longest active streak in the country with 24 straight wins. San Diego will be hosting the regional round for the seventh time in school history and the first since 2013. San Diego

Opening serve against the Toreros is set for 8:30 p.m. MT inside the Jenny Craig Pavilion on the campus of the University of San Diego is making its 26th appearance at the NCAA Tournament.

NCAA DI – Active Winning Streaks
24, San Diego, WCC
23, Wright State, Horizon
18, Wisconsin, Big Ten
18, Stanford, Pac-12
15, UCF, AAC
15, James Madison, Sun Belt
14, Northern Colorado, Big Sky
13, Oregon, Pac-12
12, Hawaii, Big West
11, Towson, CAA

UNC IN THE NCAAs
The Bears are 0-6 in NCAA Tournament appearances and have yet to go past four sets as three losses have been by sweeps and three have been by 3-1 scores.

In its NCAA DI Tournament debut in 2009, UNC managed to win the opening set against Washington before falling 3-1. Down 2-0, the Bears won the third set against Colorado in 2014 while the 2019 squad evened the match at 1-1 while facing Hawaii in 2019.

California will be the fifth different state the Bears will play an NCAA Tournament match: Colorado (2); Hawaii (2); California (1); Oregon (1), Texas (1).

San Diego will be the highest seed UNC will play in its seven NCAA Tournament matches. Oregon, the No. 5 seed in 2012, was the previous high.

UNC's seven NCAA Tournament matches have been against three different conference affiliations: Pac 12 (4), Big West (2); West Coast (1).

BEARS IN THE BIG SKY TOURNEY
UNC made its 17th straight appearance at the Big Sky Championships this season. UNC has advanced to the championship match four straight seasons and came away with three titles in that stretch. As a No. 1 seed, UNC is 8-0 in the Big Sky Tournament with titles as the favorite in 2011, 2019, and 2022.

BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPS
The Bears booked their seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament with a 3-2 win against No. 2-seeded Portland State. UNC dropped the first and third sets before holding the Vikings to 0.063 and a -0.083 hit rates in the final two sets.

2X TOURNEY MVP
As a junior last season, outside hitter Makenzie Harris had her coming out party at the 2021 Big Sky Championships. After missing out on even a Second Team All-Big Sky mention, Harris went on to capture the Big Sky Tournament MVP award after posting 27 kills and 22 digs in the championship match. Harris was selected to the 2022 All-Big Sky First Team this season for her work in the regular season and returned with another dominating performance in the championship match where she recorded 21 kills and 14 digs en route to her second straight Big Sky Tournament MVP award.

BIG SKY ALL-TOURNEY REPS
In addition to Harris' MVP, setter Syd Cole and middle blocker Cece Huhn were also named to the 2022 Big Sky All-Tournament team. Hickman joined Harris as two-time Big Sky All-Tourney team picks.

BIG SKY SWEEPS
The sweep of the Big Sky regular-season and tournament championship was the fourth set of titles for UNC (2022, 2021, 2019, 2011).

UNC VS PSU IN THE BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIP
The matchup between No. 1 seed Northern Colorado and No. 2 seed Portland State was the fourth occurrence between the two teams in the Big Sky finale since 2009. With the win on Saturday, UNC improved to 3-1 against the Vikings in the championship match.

3X CHAMPS
Four members of the team have been a part of three Big Sky titles and will be making their third NCAA Appearance: Michaela Boon, Cece Huhn, Kailey Jo Ince, and Makenzie Harris.

2022 ALL-BIG SKY SELECTIONS
Led by the league MVP Syd Cole, five Bears landed on the All-Big Sky teams. Ince was picked for the third time in her career while Hickman received her second nod. Cole is the third UNC player to earn Big Sky MVP honors along with outside hitter Kelly Arnold (2011) and setter Daisy Schultz (2019).

1st Team: Syd Cole (MVP)
1st Team: Rachel Hickman
1st Team: Kailey Jo Ince
1st Team: Makenzie Harris
2nd Team: Michaela Boon (co-Libero of the year)

BIG SKY'S TOP OFFENSE
UNC's leads the Big Sky in several offensive categories, including: attack percentage (.274), kills per set (13.93), and assists per set (12.98). Individually, junior setter Syd Cole holds the top average with 11.09 assists per set.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
The Bears have moved up to No. 3 in the Big Sky by allowing a .179 attack rate. The UNC defense held its opponents to .200 or less in 11 straight matches before Sacramento State hit .250 against the Bears in the Big Sky semifinals. In 16 regular-season BSC games, a .218 rate by NAU Oct. 8 was the best posted against the Bears this season.

2022 BIG SKY PRESEASON POLL
After picking up six of 10 first-place votes, Northern Colorado was picked to repeat as champions in 2022 by the Big Sky Coaches. The Bears received 78 points in the poll while Weber State (70 points) and Portland State (66 points) rounded out the top three. Weber State collected the two remaining first-place picks.

DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Led by graduate Kailey Jo Ince, three UNC players have recorded at least eight 'double-doubles' this season: Kailey Jo Ince (12), Makenzie Harris (10), Syd Cole (8). Two of the three have reached the mark in the same match on eight occasions, including in both the Big Sky semifinals against Sacramento State, and the championship match against Portland State (Harris & Cole).