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AU Volleyball Faces South Carolina in First Round of NCAA Tournament
Eagles in bracket with host UNC and Winthrop

December 1, 2002

click here to view the NCAA Tournament bracket

2002 Patriot League Player of the Year Karla Kucerkova.

WASHINGTON — The American University volleyball team will face the University of South Carolina in the first round of the Division 1 NCAA Tournament Thursday night at 5 p.m. at the University of North Carolina's Carmichael Auditorium as announced by ESPNEWS Sunday night. It marks the second straight tournament appearance and fourth in six years for AU. The winner of the match faces the winner of the other site match between No. 11-seeded Tar Heels and Winthrop.

The Eagles (26-7 overall, 14-0 Patriot League), who had the nation's fifth biggest winning streak (18 matches) snapped Saturday night in a 3-0 loss to Temple, earned an automatic bid after completing their second straight perfect Patriot League season that included 30 straight wins. In 2002, AU defeated Army in the Patriot League semifinals before defeating second-seeded Lehigh, 3-1, in the final.

The Gamecocks, who were ranked No. 23 in the Nov. 25 USA Today/AVCA Coaches Poll, went 21-6 overall and 14-2 in the Southeastern Conference before being upset by Alabama in the SEC semifinals by a 3-0 margin. They received an at-large invitation to the tournament. The North Carolina bracket is in the Central division and also features No. 3-seeded Nebraska (27-1) and No. 14-seeded Wisconsin (23-8) in the other bracket.

"Every team that's in the tournament is good so the USC match will be a good test for us," said AU coach Barry Goldberg.

The teams have met twice before with the Gamecocks capturing both matches. The last time these two met was in 1996 when USC won 3-0 by scores of 15-0, 15-6 and 15-8. The previous year, South Carolina captured a win 3-1 by scores of 15-6, 9-15, 15-6 and 16-14.

The Gamecocks and Eagles have played two of the same opponents this season with similar results. Both have defeated Georgetown, as USC beat the Hoyas 3-0 and AU beat them 3-2. AU lost in the American Volleyball Classic Championship to Florida, 3-0, as South Carolina fell twice to the Gators, 3-0.

Kim Christopher is in her 10th season at the helm of USC. She is assisted by Trina Smith and Jason Hou. Leading the offense for USC is senior Berna Dwyer (3.22 kills per game) and redshirt sophomore Niece Curry (3.27 kpg). Senior Megan Hosp operates the offense with over 12 assists per game while Dwyer and Curry are the top blockers with over one each per game.

Southern California (25-1) earned the top seed of the 64-team field while defending national champion Stanford (27-4) is second followed by the Cornhuskers and the No. 4-seeded Northern Iowa (32-2). Only the top 16 teams are seeded in the tournament as there were 31 automatic bids and 33 at-large bids. In 1998, the NCAA expanded the tournament from 48 to 64 teams.

Glancing at the competition, AU has faced eight teams with a 1-7 record against them. On Sept. 13, American defeated Duke by a 3-2 margin in the Duke Classic in Durham, N.C. The other teams the Eagles have competed against in 2002 include No. 5 Florida (30-2), No. 8 UC-Santa Barbara (28-2), No. 10 Arizona (17-11), No. 14 Wisconsin (23-8), Louisville (27-5), Temple (26-6) and Texas-Arlington (26-6).

In 2001, American University fell to Colorado 3-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to put an end to a stellar 26-4 overall record that included a Patriot League record 21-match winning streak. Then-sophomore Karla Kucerkova led the Patriot League in kills and was the league's Player of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

American has earned numerous accolades both on and off the court in the past season. For the second time in their careers American University juniors Natalie Hand and Kucerkova were named two of seven student-athletes to the first team of the 2002 Verizon Academic All-District II Volleyball Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

The Eagles landed five players on the All-Patriot League Team including Kucerkova, who repeated as Player of the Year, and Cutrina Biddulph, who was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Year. Sophomores Cathy Fluegeman and Courtney Mulford and senior Judit Szekelyhidi were named along with Biddulph to the second team.

American has earned several spots on all-tournament teams this season. Sophomore Natacha Cornaz was named the Patriot League Tournament MVP last weekend. Kucerkova was named to the Louisville Classic All-Tournament Team while Biddulph earned honors at the Duke Classic. Both Szekelyhidi and Mulford were chosen for the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore Tournament and the American Volleyball Classic.

The Eagles have been chosen for several Patriot League Weekly Honors as Kucerkova earned two Player of the Week awards to bring her career total to four. Biddulph was picked for three Patriot League Rookie of the Week Awards. Mulford was also named the PL Player of the Week and took home the ECAC Division I Player of the Week Sept. 25 honor.

American University, which fields a 19-sport NCAA Division I athletics program featuring 10 women’s sports and nine for men, recently completed its inaugural year of membership in the Patriot League. The University had an extremely successful year to date on respective fields of play, capturing league championships in men's cross country, women's cross country, men’s soccer, women's soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis, and regular-season titles in men’s basketball and women’s lacrosse.

Chartered by an Act of Congress in 1893, American University features students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and more than 160 nations worldwide.