TicketsNov. 12, 2006
BIG EAST Championship Bracket in PDF Format
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PROVIDENCE, R.I.---After a long, competitive BIG EAST regular season, a four-way tie for third place in the league standings has been broken and Cincinnati has emerged as the No. 4 seed for next weekend's conference championship which will be held in Fifth Third Arena on UC's campus. The Bearcats will battle fifth-seeded Notre Dame at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17 in the final quarterfinal match of the day.
When play ended on Sunday, Pittsburgh, UC, Notre Dame and Marquette all shared 10-4 BIG EAST records. By virtue of wins over all three of the other teams, Pitt gained the No. 3 seed and will battle sixth-seeded Marquette in the opening round. A tiebreaker scenario of games winning percentage in league play fell the Bearcats way, giving them the fourth seed.
"We are looking forward to playing Notre Dame again," UC head coach Reed Sunahara said. "The bottom line now is its one loss and your done. No matter who we play, every match counts and we have to win, starting with Notre Dame. We will go back and start looking at the tapes and make sure we are prepared."
Cincinnati will hope for the same result as the last meeting between the clubs on Oct. 28, when the Bearcats picked up a three-game sweep of the Fighting Irish. The win was the first ever against Notre Dame for UC.
The top of the bracket features BIG EAST regular season champions St. John's, who will take on eighth-seed USF. Despite a loss to Cincinnati on Sunday, the Bulls gained the final spot by virtue of St. John's thrilling, five-game win over Villanova. The number two seed is Louisville who will open play against No. 7 Connecticut.
Tickets for the 2006 BIG EAST Volleyball Championship are available by calling 1-877-CATS-TIX. For more information on the event, log onto GoBEARCATS.com.