Nov. 25, 2012

2012 NCAA Championship Bracket

STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford women's volleyball team (27-3) will begin its quest for the program's seventh NCAA title at home this week, as the squad earned the No. 2 overall seed in the 2012 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship and was selected to host the first and second rounds. The Cardinal will be the No. 1 seed in the Berkeley Regional and will face Jackson State (24-11) at Maples Pavilion, Friday, Nov. 30 at 8 p.m.

Stanford will be making its 32nd-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and is one of just two teams to have made it to all 32 tournaments. The Cardinal will be seeking its seventh NCAA title, 19th Final Four trip and 15th appearance in the national title match.

Last season, Stanford fell in the second round at home to Michigan in the tournament. Under 12th-year head coach John Dunning, Stanford has reached six of the last 11 NCAA title matches and won two national championships.

Should Stanford advance, the team will travel across the Bay to Berkeley, Calif., for the Berkeley Regional on Dec. 7-8. The 2012 Final Four will be held at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky., Dec. 13-15.

The Cardinal wrapped up the regular season on Friday night with a sweep at Cal. Stanford captured its 15th Pac-12 Conference title, and its sixth in the past seven years, with a 19-1 record. Seven Pac-12 schools earned bids to the postseason, tying the Big Ten Conference for the most in the tournament.

Stanford will play its first round match at 8 p.m. on Friday at Maples Pavilion against Jackson State. The Tigers won the Southwestern Athletic Conference for the second straight year to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.

Western Kentucky (32-3) and Loyola Marymount (18-12) will meet in the other first-round matchup at Maples Pavilion on Friday at 5:30 p.m. The Lady Toppers out of the Sun Belt Conference earned an automatic bid, while the Lions from the West Coast Conference received an at-large berth. The winners of the Stanford-Jackson State match and the Western Kentucky-Loyola Marymount match will meet Saturday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m.