SEATTLE – Washington Volleyball earned the No. 8 overall seed in the NCAA Championships and will begin its tourney run in Alaska Airlines Arena this Friday night against LIU Brooklyn. The 64-team field was announced tonight on ESPNU. The Huskies are in the championships for the 22nd time in program history, and the 16th year in a row.
 
The Huskies will take on the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds at 7:30 p.m. this Friday, Dec. 1, in the opening round. Also coming to Seattle are a pair of typical volleyball powers in Illinois out of the Big Ten and Hawaii out of the Big West. The Fighting Illini and Rainbow Wahine will face off on Friday at 5 p.m. The winners on Friday will then play Saturday at 7 p.m. Pacific for a spot in regionals.
 
All-session tickets are on sale now at GoHuskies.com with season ticket holders receiving an email with instructions on claiming their current seats. Single session tickets will go on sale on Thursday at 8:30 a.m.
 
Third-year Head Coach Keegan Cook has seen UW's name called early every year of his tenure, but it has yet to get old. "I think the emotions sneak up on you every time, no matter how many times you go through it," says Cook. "Your heart starts beating a little faster as they start announcing those names. Thrilled to be playing at home again with some storied programs coming to Seattle. I love our first weekend, and if we can get past that some great matches then some great matches down the road as well."
 

Running into the NCAA tournament like........ pic.twitter.com/m12dECvM94

— UW Volleyball (@UWVolleyball) November 27, 2017

 
The Huskies finished the regular season at 24-7 and went 14-6 in Pac-12 play to tie for second-place in the Pac-12, the fifth straight year that UW has finished first or second in the league. Washington is the No. 8 overall seed for the second year in a row. The Dawgs have advanced to the Elite Eight the past two years.
 
Washington dealt with multiple injuries to several key players throughout the season, and used 16 different starting lineups over the 31 matches, but the Dawgs got healthy and finished strong, winning six of their final seven matches and after starting 5-4 in conference the Huskies went 9-2 the rest of the way.
 
"What I like most about our team is we've got this sense that we've got some room to grow here," says Cook. "I think everyone is looking forward to practice this week. If we can manage to win a couple games then we get to practice again next week. I think we have a lineup we can grow with, so I'm coaching really hard to try and keep having one more day with this group."
 
LIU Brooklyn went 20-9 this year and won the Northeast Conference tournament for the fifth time in six years. Illinois finished the season 21-10 and 12-8 in the Big Ten to tie for fifth in the league. It is the 24th all-time tourney appearance for the Fighting Illini. Hawaii is headed to its 36th overall and 25th straight NCAA DI Women's Volleyball Championship after receiving an at-large berth. The Rainbow Wahine went 20-7 and finished second in the Big West with a 14-2 league record.
 
Penn State earned the No. 1 overall seed and should the seeds all hold Washington would be in the Nittany Lions' region. Florida was the No. 2 overall seed, followed by Pac-12 Champion and defending NCAA Champion Stanford at No. 3 then Kentucky at No. 4. The next four went No. 5 Nebraska, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Minnesota, and then the Huskies to round out the top eight. The Final Four will be Dec. 14 and 16 in Kansas City, Missouri.
 
 
NCAA Volleyball Championships
First and Second Rounds
Alaska Airlines Arena
 
Friday, Dec. 1
Illinois vs. Hawaii - 5 pm Pacific
(8) Washington vs. LIU Brooklyn - 7:30 pm Pacific
 
Saturday, Dec. 2
Winner match 1 vs Winner match 2 - 7 pm Pacific