ESPN3 BROADCAST | LIVE STATS | SHU GAME NOTES

Date: Thursday, December 2
Time: 7:00 PM (CDT)
Location: Austin, Texas (Gregory Gymnasium)
 

The Sacred Heart University women's volleyball team is back in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons. Winners of the Northeast Conference, the Pioneers (19-9) will take on the number two seed, the University of Texas in Thursday's opening round. This will be the first meeting between the Pioneers and Longhorns (24-1). The game can be seen the Longhorn Network and ESPN3.

 

FIRST SERVE

• Sacred Heart, Northeast Conference champions for the third-straight season (2021, 2020-21 regular season, 2019), opens the NCAA Tournament on Thursday at #2 Texas.
• This is the Pioneers' fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the second in the last three years.
• Sacred Heart is taking on Texas for the first time in program history. The Pioneers are 0-4 against the Big 12.
• The Pioneers last appearance in the NCAA Tournament was a 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-8) loss to Baylor in 2019.
• SHU earned its spot in the tournament by defeating Bryant University, the regular season NEC champion, 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-19) in NEC Tournament.
• The Pioneers come into the tournament riding a season-long, six-match winning streak. SHU's last loss was a 3-0 defeat at LIU on October 30, 2021.
• Senior setter Sarah Ciszek was named NEC Setter of the Year for the fourth time. The San Juan Capistrano, Calif. native was also named MVP of the conference tournament.
• Joining Ciszek on the all-conference teams was right side Olivia Fairchild (First-Team) and middle blocker Reghan Palanchi (Second-Team).
• Ciszek also excels in the classroom where the nursing major is a member of CoSIDA Academic All-District 1 team.
• Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott was the interim head coach at USC in 2000 when he hired SHU court boss Rob Machan as an assistant coach. Machan spent five seasons with the Trojans and helped them win the 2000 and 2003 national championships.