WSU VOLLEYBALL EARNS NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT 2017 BID
For the second consecutive year, the Washington State University volleyball team received an at-large bid to the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship Tournament...the Cougars, 17-15 overall, 6-14 for ninth place in the Pac-12 Conference, will play Florida State, 18-10 overall, 12-8 tied for fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference, in a First Round match Friday, Dec. 1 at 4:30 p.m. CT/2:30 p.m PT in Lincoln, Nebraska...No. 5 seed and host school Nebraska (26-4) will play Stony Brook (18-12) at 7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT...the winners advance to the Second Round, Sat., Dec. 2, in a 7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT match...matches will be played in the Bob Devaney Sports Center (capacity 7,907) where the Huskers have averaged 8,208 fans per match in the 15 home matches this year...these opening round maches are part of the No. 4 seed Kentucky pod...WSU's NCAA matches, called by Steve Grubbs, can be heard live on KQQQ 1150AM radio and online at wsucougars.com...video internet streaming webcasts of all matches in Lincoln can be accessed for FREE by clicking just BEFORE THE MATCH on the link on the volleyball schedule at wsucougars.com.

BACK-TO-BACK NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP APPEARANCES
This is the second consecutive appearance for WSU at the NCAA Championship Tournament under seventh-year WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny...this is the 12th trip to the NCAA  Tournament for the WSU volleyball program...Greeny played for the Cougars in the NCAA Tournament (1995, '96, '97) and was an assistant coach for WSU's appearances in 2000, '01 and '02).

WSU COACHING STAFF
Jen Stinson Greeny is in her seventh season as WSU's head coach (108-119 at WSU, 7 years; 220-143 in career, 11 years)...2016 Pac-12 Coach of the Year...Greeny bio on page 6...staff includes associate head coach Burdette Greeny (seventh year) and assistant coach Shannon Hunt (fifth year)...all coaches are former WSU student-athletes...technical operations Grant Schoenlein (first year), volunteer coach James Dorr (second year) and student coach Kyra Holt...Kaysie Shebenick is coordinator of operations (first year).

COUGARS ON THE NATIONAL STAGE
In national NCAA DI rankings/polls for Nov. 27, WSU is 38th in the NCAA RPI (9th in Pac-12)...in other rankings WSU is: Rich Kern - 34th; Massey Ratings - 34th; PrepVolleyball.com - 35th; Pablo Rankings - 37th; RKPI - 40th (9th in Pac-12); Figstats - 43rd/Strength of schedule - 6th; and not listed in the AVCA Coaches Top 25, or VolleyMob.com polls...polls are on page 5.

TAYLOR MIMS NAMED ALL-PAC-12 FIRST TEAM
WSU junior outside hitter Taylor Mims (Billings, Mont.) was named to the 2017 All-Pac-12 Volleyball First Team...Mims, a 6-3 outside hitter from Billings, Mont., leads the NCAA-bound Cougars and is fifth-best in the Pac-12 in kills with a 4.10 per set average and in points with a 4.65 per set average...in NCAA standings, Mims is 16th in total attacks with 1,408, 18th in points with 558.5., 19th in total kills with 488, 24th in attacks per set at 11.83, 28th in points per set with 4.69 pps, and 35th in kills per set at 4.10 kps...selected to the Cougar Challenge All-Tournament team and named the MVP of the Missouri State Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational.