|
Techsters Heading to College Station for NCAA Tournament
May 11, 2008
HONOLULU - One day after completing an improbable run to the 2008 Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship title, Louisiana Tech's coaches and players gathered around a television at East Side Grill in Honolulu Sunday to find out their NCAA Tournament future. The NCAA crystal ball revealed that the Lady Techsters (35-27) will be the No. 3 seed in the College Station region as Tech will face Southeastern Conference foe Auburn (37-20) in its first game. Texas A&M will face Southland Conference champion Stephen F. Austin in the other first round game in that region. Head coach Sarah Dawson - whose team flies out of the Islands late Sunday night and is scheduled to arrive in Ruston at approximately 1 p.m. Monday - said she is excited about the opportunity and challenges that face her young squad. "I'm glad we'll b e close to home," said Dawson. "It'll give our fans a chance to make the drive and continue to support us. We have some pretty stout competition in this regional but we're looking forward to the challenge. If anything could prepare us for going into regional play, it was our conference tourney. To face nothing but top 20 teams in four days has us ready to face this level of competition." The NCAA Tournament appearance will be the ninth for Louisiana Tech in the program's history but the first since 1995 when Tech fell to Washington (1-0) and Nicholls State (4-1) in the first two games of the double elimination regional. Tech earned the automatic berth from the Western Athletic Conference after winning four straight games over Top 25 teams in the league tournament held at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium Wednesday through Saturday. The Lady Techsters entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed but pulled off upsets over No. 3 seed and 22nd ranked Hawaii (2-1), No. 2 seed and 10th ranked Fresno State 3-2, and No. 1 seed and 17th ranked Nevada (4-3 and 2-1). In addition to its previous eight NCAA Tournament appearances, Louisiana Tech has also advanced to three College World Series appearances in 1982, 1984 and 1985. Tech has never won the NCAA national title. Four Western Athletic Conference teams earned bids as Fresno State, Nevada and Hawaii are also in the 64-team field. |
