Kent State University
University of Toledo
Golden Flashes Open 2016 MAC Volleyball Championship Thursday Night
11/17/2016 6:02:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
2016 MAC Volleyball Championship Central
Bracket (PDF)
KENT, Ohio—The Kent State volleyball team begins play at the 2016 Mid-American Conference Volleyball Championship at Northern Illinois' Victor E. Court on Friday night in a first round match against Toledo at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Fifth-year head coach Don Gromala hopes to see a rejuvenated team that was hampered with injuries over the final few weeks of the conference season. Kent State (15-14) went 8-8 in league play to finish tied for sixth in the overall MAC standings. A 3-2 loss (17-25, 25-14, 25-23, 14-25, 6-15) at Toledo on October 15 gives the head-to-head tiebreaker to the Rockets for the No. 6 seed, while the Golden Flashes are seeded 7th.
On the season, Kent State is 4-2 in neutral site matches with its only losses to No. 22 Dayton (28-1) and Austin Peay (24-10) at Evansville's Dunn Hospitality Tournament (Sept. 9-10).
WHAT'S AT STAKE
The winner of Thursday's contest will advance to play 3rd-seeded Ohio on Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET. Additionally, a Kent State victory would secure three straight winning seasons since the 1995-97 seasons.
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The top eight teams in the conference standings, regardless of division, earn spots in the MAC Volleyball Championship. For the third year, he conference's top two seeds earn a bye to the semifinals, which will be played on Saturday. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds earn a bye to the quarterfinals, which will be played on Friday. The other four teams play in first round matchups on Friday and must win four matches in order to claim the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. As a result of the bracket modifications, the tournament has been extended and now takes place over four days.
FOLLOW THE #MACTION
Fans can find out everything they want regarding the 2016 MAC Volleyball Championship on the MAC Championship central page. Live stats and video streaming will be provided for all matches. First round and quarterfinal matches will be streamed on mac-sports.com, while ESPN3 will broadcast both semifinals and the title match.
