Scorpions begin play in national tournament today

SIOUX CITY, Iowa - The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College's long-awaited trip to the 30th Annual NAIA National Volleyball Championship is here.

One of the most successful seasons in the history of UTB-TSC continues when the Scorpions' volleyball team begins pool play in the 24-team national tournament at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday against Bellevue University (Neb.) at the Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena.

The 31-1 Scorpions are seeded ninth in the field and will play one match each day Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. If they win at least two matches, they are almost assured of advancing to Friday's championship bracket.

Considering that UTB-TSC went 10-23 in 2008, Few people had high expectations after a 10-23 season in 2008, but new coach Todd Lowery made advancing to the national tournament a priority.

"Our goal from day one was to be at the national tournament," Lowery said. "By the end of preseason practice we had a good idea that it was a very achievable goal so I don't think it is a big surprise that we made it. The talent was there and the girls put in a lot of hard work all season."

The Scorpions are on a roll, streaking into the tournament with 28 straight victories. Their only loss was Aug. 28 to Georgetown College, which was ranked in the top 10 of NAIA Coaches Top 25 poll for most of the season but did not qualify for the national tournament.

UTB-TSC finished the regular season as the No. 9 team in the country and qualified for nationals by winning the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament.

Lowery scheduled tough teams like Georgetown College, Madonna University, University of Mobile and Savannah College of Art and Design early in the season to catch the attention of national voters.

"We knew going into the year that we had to do something to get noticed, we picked those to tournaments knowing that we would see some top 10 teams," Lowery said. "Had we not done well early on in those matches for use to break into the top 25 would have been difficult and impossible to get in the top 10.  We saw very little movement in our ranking once we got into conference play."

The Scorpions have not played a nationally ranked opponent since September.

"It is a concern of our that is has been a while since we have been tested, Wiley gave us a great match in the conference final and our girls responded well. On the other side as a team we are fairly healthy and don't have a lot of the over-use injuries that you start to see over the course of a 30-game season."

Lowery has his sights set on making out of pool play and the quarterfinal round, and advancing into Saturday's matches which include the semifinals and finals.

"The big key for us to making to Saturday is going to be just play together as team, we are very talented from top to bottom on our roster we are going to need contributions from everybody over the course of the week," Lowery said. "We are going to have to step up defensively and on serve receive to give us the best chance to win."

After the first pool play match, the Scorpions continue against No. 14 seed and tournament host Morningside College (Iowa) at 8 p.m. Wednesday, and then face No. 4 seed Concordia University (Calif.) at 5:45 p.m. Thursday.

UTB-TSC is led by Red River Athletic Conference Player of the Year Arlene Ferreira, who ranks 21st in the nation in kills with a 3.89 average per match and also averages 4.12 assists per match.

Setter Daianarah Bracero ranks 19th in the nation with a 10.54 assist per match average. Bracero holds the school record for assists, with 1,880 in 2007 and 1,075 and counting in 2009 for a 2,955 total. She needs only 45 assists to crack the 3,000 mark.

Bracero and middle blocker Talita Milasauskas were the only two Scorpions from the 2007 squad that went 36-9 and advanced to the national tournament quarterfinals.

UTB-TSC (31-1) vs. Bellevue University (29-7)

8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1; Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena, Sioux City, Iowa

It's the first meeting between the two schools in any sport. Bellevue has advanced to the NAIA championship four times. The Bruins defeated Friends University 3-0 in their opening-round match to advance to the site of the final 24 teams.

Bellevue's best finish came in 2000, when the Bruins advanced to the quarterfinals. Bellevue advanced to the championship of the Midlands Collegiate Athletics Conference, losing to College of the Ozarks in the finals.

The Bruins are led by senior Rachel Muller, a 5-9 senior outside hitter from Omaha, Neb. who was named the MCAC Player of the Year. Muller averages 3.56 kills and 3.55 digs per match.

"Bellevue is not a particular big team, but they are very good defensively and touch a lot of balls," Lowery said. "Their freshman setter has had a great season and does not play like a freshman."

The setter is 5-9 freshman Jordan Broady, who averaged 10.69 assists per match.

"We will need to get to them with our serve and hopefully take their middles out of the game," Lowery said. "That way, If we can do that we will be able to put up a solid block on their outside hitters."

Bellevue is not as tall as the Scorpions. All 13 Bruins on the roster are between 5-7 and 6-0.

There are connections between UTB-TSC and Bellevue. UTB-TSC baseball coach Bryan Aughney was a graduate assistant there and received his master's degree there. Assistant baseball coach Wade Pope was an assistant coach at Bellevue for three years. Former Scorpions coach Joel Barta and former assistant Derek Waddoups each coached there.