Volleyball faces Purdue Thursday in NCAA Championship

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From SMUMustangs.com:

Mustangs Face Purdue In Austin In NCAA Tournament First Round Thursday
Winner faces Texas or Fairfield in second round

Nov. 29, 2015

INDIANAPOLIS (NCAA/SMU) – The SMU volleyball team will make its first appearance in the NCAA Championship after winning the American Athletic Conference regular-season championship to claim the league’s automatic bid. The Mustangs will face Purdue in the first round Thursday at 4:30 p.m. CT in Austin, Texas.

SMU finished the regular season with a program-record 27 wins and just five losses, and went 17-3 in The American, including a school-record 16-match win streak. The Mustangs won three matches against NCAA top-50 teams, beating TCU, Santa Clara and San Diego, which was ranked No. 18 in the AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll at the time.

Avery Acker leads the NCAA with 12.53 assists per set, and set a conference record with 67 assists in the win against TCU. Morgan Heise set a school record with 706 digs, second in the NCAA this season, and earned seven conference Defensive Player of the Week awards, including the last four. Janelle Giordano ranks second in the NCAA with an SMU and American Athletic Conference single-season record 185 blocks.

The Boilermakers went 22-9 overall and 13-7 in the Big Ten. Purdue played 10 matches against ranked opponents, going 3-7 against top-25 teams. Annie Drews leads the team with 486 kills, hitting .257. Purdue is hitting .264 as a team, averaging 13.88 kills per set.

The winner between SMU and Purdue will face the winner between No. 3-seed Texas and Fairfield Friday. For more information, visit www.NCAA.com.