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We were very fortunate that our Senior Day was not our last opportunity to play on our home court in Merkert Gymnasium. Coming into the NE-10 Tournament we had a desire to make a statement. We had our home quarterfinal game against Southern New Hampshire University. It was a good competitive match as we started off our tournament run hot as we were successful in all aspects from our fast attack, to our scrappy defense. Eventually, we came out victorious with a convincing 3-1 win to set us up for our semi-final match against Bentley at New Haven on Friday.
We were hungry again, but as any team does, we had a bad night, and we were unable to make it to the finals. On our way home we ate Italian food, watched Bend It Like Beckham, and tried to remain positive as we moved towards the NCAA selection show. We were fairly certain we were going to receive an at-large bid, and the environment in the room as we all came together to watch it was full of excitement as we waited to see what our seed was going to be and who we would be matched up against. Coach set us on a challenge to see if we could figure it out ourselves as we split into three teams and filled out the brackets based on what we thought we would see in the show.
Though some showed a valiant effort (my team won), nobody got a perfect guess. This is what the bracket looks like:
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After we fumbled around the site looking for the link to the selection show, we sat waiting and finally our region came. Our anxiousness grew with every region, so of course we were the last team of the last region to be announced. We earned the 3rd seed for the tournament, and we could not be happier. It is our team's second trip to the NCAA tournament in school history and this year, we take on the highest seed entering this tournament the program has ever seen. It is very full circle for me and the rest of the senior class as we came in with an NCAA year and are leaving with another trip. I am very proud of what this team has accomplished this year, and we have a lot more to prove this coming week. GO HILL!
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Check back next week for the 15th installment of the VolleyBlog series! To view past posts, click here.