Penn State seeded No. 7 in NCAA tournament, opens with Howard

The defending champs have a tough road to get another title.

The Penn State women’s volleyball team learned its fate with the NCAA championship bracket announcement Sunday night.

The Nittany Lions (26-5, 15-5 Big Ten) earned the No. 7 seed and will open the tournament at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Rec Hall against Howard (18-13).

The winners of the last two crowns, and six of the last eight titles, enter the tournament No. 9 in the RPI rankings, and No. 7 in the AVCA Coaches poll.

Joining the Lions and Bison at Rec Hall will be Dayton and Villanova, which will battle earlier in the night. The winners will meet in Saturday’s second round at 7:30 p.m. Villanova is coached by State College and Penn State graduate Josh Steinbach.

Howard won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship to earn an automatic bid. Penn State reached the tournament with an at-large bid after a third-place Big Ten finish.

If Penn State wins the first two matches, it will advance to the regionals Dec. 11-12 in Des Moines, Iowa. The other seeded teams, and potential opponents, in that region include second-seeded and Big Ten champion Minnesota, No. 10 Texas A&M and No. 15 Louisville. The Golden Gophers and Nittany Lions split their two matches in the regular season. The Cardinals are led by Maya McClendon, sister of former Penn State standout Deja McClendon. Unseeded Hawaii (26-1) also is in that part of the bracket.

The Nittany Lions, who beat Brigham Young in last year’s title match, and No. 8 seed Stanford are the only programs to have been a part of all 35 NCAA tournaments. This marks the 28th time, and 26th straight year, Penn State has hosted tournament matches.

Southern California earned the No. 1 seed, while Texas and Nebraska were third and fourth, respectively, in a bracket that seeds just 16 teams.

Also making the field from the Big Ten were No. 6 seed Wisconsin, No. 12 Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue and Illinois.

The national championship semifinals and finals will be played at the Centurylink Center in Omaha, Neb., on Dec. 17 and 19.

This story was originally published November 29, 2015 at 9:56 PM with the headline "Penn State seeded No. 7 in NCAA tournament, opens with Howard."