The University of Colorado volleyball team Sunday learned it will host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament after earning an at-large bid into the 64-team field.
Colorado (16-11), which will make its 16th trip to the tournament in the past 21 years, finished tied for fourth in the Big 12 Conference. The Buffaloes will face New Mexico State (33-3) at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Coors Events Center in Boulder. Colorado will be hosting a regional for the first time since 1997, when the Buffs advanced to the round of 16.
Colorado State, which rallied for an upset victory Saturday over Utah to win the Mountain West Conference championship, also will play in the Boulder regional.
The Rams (20-9) face defending national champion Washington (25-4) at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Colorado State on Saturday came back from a two-game deficit, won an extended third game, then capped the comeback with a narrow fifth-game victory in upsetting top-ranked Utah in Las Vegas. Led by Mekana Barnes’ 24 kills, No. 3 seed Colorado State downed Utah 25-30, 19-30, 34-32, 30-20, 15-10 and earned the conference’s automatic tournament bid.
First-round winners will play a second-round match in Boulder on Friday at 7 p.m.
AFA hockey ends skid against Robert Morris
Brian Reese’s game-winning goal with 1:18 remaining lifted the Air Force hockey team to a 4-3 comeback victory over Robert Morris in an Atlantic Hockey Association game at the Cadet Ice Arena. Josh Print had a goal and assist for Air Force (8-7-1), which hadn’t defeated the Colonials (4-8-0) in six previous meetings.
Robert Morris goaltender Christian Boucher stopped 38 shots, including 19 in the first period, to keep the Colonials in the game. But in the final 90 seconds, Reese threw his body on the ice to block a shot by a Colonials defenseman before Jeff Hajner took the puck. Hajner passed to Reese, whose second shot on goal got past Boucher.
