SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 6-ranked Central Oklahoma will make its first-ever appearance in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship beginning Thursday at the Sanford Pentagon.
UCO, 33-2 on the season and the Central Region champion, is the No. 2 seed and will take on No. 7 seed and 21st-ranked San Francisco State (24-6) at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. The Gators won the West Region.
Other first-round matches at the Sanford Pentagon have third-seeded and No. 7-ranked Angelo State (31-2) playing No. 6 seed Gannon (26-7) at 11 a.m., fourth-seeded and No. 14-rated Lynn (30-3) meeting No. 5 seed and 20th-ranked Wingate (31-2) at 4:30 p.m. and top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Ferris State (34-0) going against No. 8 seed Bentley (25-6) at 7 p.m.
Semifinal matches Friday will have the ASU/GU-UCO/SFSU winners playing at 4 p.m. and the LU/WU-FSU/BU winners meeting at 7.
The semifinal winners collide for the national title at 5 p.m. Saturday.
ABOUT THE ELITE EIGHT: Eight-team regional tournaments were held at eight different sites around the country last week, with the winners advancing to Sioux Falls.
Gannon (Atlantic), Bentley (East Region), Ferris State (Midwest), Lynn (South), Angelo State (South Central) and Wingate (Southeast) were all No. 1 seeds in their regional, while UCO (Central) and San Francisco State (West) were seeded second.
The regional champions were reseeded for this week's Elite Eight
Cal State-LA won last year's national championship.
UCO IN NATIONAL PLAYOFFS: The Bronchos are 6-6 in the national tournament, with UCO's 3-0 performance in the Central Regional last week equaling their combined win total from the first six appearances.
UCO first qualified in 1994, beating West Texas A&M in the first round before losing to Central Missouri in the finals of the South Central Regional.
The Bronchos lost to Nebraska-Kearney in the first round of the Southwest Regional in 2002 and fell to Abilene Christian in the opening round of the 2005 Southwest Regional.
UCO swept Fort Lewis in the opening round of the 2007 Southwest Regional before losing to UNK in four sets in the semifinals.
The Bronchos made their first Central Regional appearance in 2015, sweeping UNK in the opening round and losing to Concordia-St. Paul in the semifinals.
Central fell in three sets to eventual national champion Concordia-St. Paul in 2017.
The Bronchos finally made it back this season and won three five-set matches to claim its first-ever regional title last week.
UCO trimmed No. 15 Southwest Minnesota in the first round, edged Washburn in the semifinals and rallied past host and No. 2 St. Cloud State in the finals.
UCO VS. NATIONAL FIELD: UCO has played nine teams who qualified for the national tournament field this year and is now 11-1 against those teams.
The Bronchos beat Elite Eight qualifier Angelo State (3-2), Embry-Riddle (3-1), Nova Southeastern (3-0) and Flagler (3-0) in the first two weeks of the season before going 5-1 against MIAA rivals Nebraska-Kearney, Missouri Western and Washburn.
The Bronchos split with MWSU, losing 3-1 in the regular season before winning 3-2 in the MIAA Tournament semifinals. UCO swept the Lopers and Ichabods in the regular season and beat both teams again in the postseason.
Central downed UNK (3-1) in the MIAA Tournament finals and got past WU (3-2) in the Central Regional semifinals. The Bronchos also beat Southwest Minnesota (3-2) and St. Cloud State (3-2) in the regional.
ABOUT THE COACH: The Bronchos are under the direction of 12th-year head coach Edgar Miraku, who enters the Elite Eight with a stellar 302-92 career record.
UCO has had six seasons with 30-plus wins in its history and Miraku has been at the helm for three of those (2015, '16 and '24). He's had four other seasons with 25-plus wins.
Miraku has also led the Bronchos to three of its seven national tournament appearances (2015, '17, '24).
ABOUT THE BRONCHOS: UCO has won a school-record 33 matches, including the last 13 in a row.
The Bronchos bolted out of the gate this season with a best-ever 18-0 start. The first nine of those wins came in neutral-site or true road matches, including victories over four national tournament qualifiers.
UCO went 3-0 to claim its first-ever MIAA Tournament title, sweeping Emporia State in the first round before edging Missouri Western in five sets in the semifinals and taking down Nebraska-Kearney in four in the finals.
The Bronchos followed that up with their first-ever regional championship, claiming the Central Regional crown last week with hard-fought five-set wins over Southwest Minnesota, Washburn and St. Cloud State.
UCO is 6-0 in five-set matches this season, with four of those having been in the last five outings. The Bronchos have had 20 sweeps and went 7-2 in four-set matches.
OFFENSIVE ATTACK: Central Oklahoma features a potent offense and owns a .259 team attack percentage that ranks 14th in NCAA Division II.
The Bronchos are in the top 10 nationally in five categories -- second in total kills (1,835) and total assists (1,703), third in total attacks (4,953), sixth in kills per set (14.56), and eighth in assists per set (13.52).
UCO has hit .300 or better in 15 matches, including a school-record .446 (49 kills, four errors, 101 attacks) in a neutral-site sweep of Fort Lewis early in the season.
The Bronchos showcase a balanced attack as five players have between 200 and 383 kills
Senior Addison Wimmer leads the way with 383 kills (3.30/set). Senior Jenna Karp has 349 (3.06), junior Sydney Huck 338 (3.02), senior Mikaela Garvin 307 (2.84) and junior Lari Migliorino 200 (1.94).
DEFENSIVE PRESENCE: UCO also showcases a strong defense, both in the back row and at the net.
The Bronchos rank third in Division II in total digs (2,409) and fifth in digs per set (19.12). UCO is 12th nationally in team total blocks with 283.0 (87 solo, 922 assisted).
Five players have 250-plus digs, paced by senior Katie Le with 646. Seven players have at least 25 total blocks, with Migliorino's 108 (15 solo, 93 assisted) leading the way.
UCO ON THE ROAD: The Bronchos have played 22 of their 35 matches away from home this season with 11 neutral-site contests and 11 true road matches.
Central is 11-0 in neutral-site outings and 10-1 on the road, the lone loss coming to Central Region participant and MIAA rival Missouri Western.
SERIES RECORDS: The Bronchos have met only one other team in this week's Elite Eight – Angelo State. UCO beat the Rambelles on the road Sept. 6 to even that series at 16-16.
ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO STATE: UCO's first-round opponent knocked off the defending national champion (Cal State-LA) and two top-10 teams (No. 4 Chaminade) and No. 10 (regional host Cal Poly-Pomona) in winning the West Regional title last weekend to advance to the Elite Eight.
The Gators were runner-up in the California Collegiate Athletic Association in the regular season before losing in the first round of the CCAA Tournament only to follow with last week's 3-0 run through the West Regional.
SFSU is led by First-Team All-West Region selection Kimberly DeBoer, who has 1,231 assists (11.29/set) and 352 digs (3.23/set) on the season. Tamiya Wilson was also a First-Team All-West Region pick and has 432 kills (3.96/set), 51 service aces and 45 total blocks on the season. Second-Team All-West Region selection Izzy Issak has 446 kills (4.25/set) and 52 total blocks.
The Gators are making their first Elite Eight appearance.
