A-State to play Georgia State in SBC Tournament

From A-State Sports
Dennen Cuthbertsen, Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

JONESBORO – The Arkansas State volleyball team will play Georgia State in the first round of the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Tournament Friday at 5 p.m. as the league released the complete bracket Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the regular season.

The top-seeded Red Wolves will face the eighth-seeded Panthers at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas on Friday, Nov. 18. The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday Nov. 19, with the finals set for Sunday, Nov. 20. Every match of the tournament can be watched on ESPN3.

A-State claimed the No. 1 seed in the tournament with a 15-1 mark and West Division championship. The 15-1 mark tied the East Division champion Coastal Carolina for best in the league, but A-State defeated the Chanticleers on Sept. 25 to break the tie and earn the top seed.

If Arkansas State were to win its first-round match against Georgia State, the team would face the winner of the match between No. 4 UT Arlington and No. 5 Little Rock in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 19. The Mavericks are Trojans are set to square off at 7:30 on Friday, Nov. 18.

On the other side of the bracket, No. 3 Texas State and No. 6 South Alabama will begin the tournament on Friday at noon before No. 2 Coastal Carolina will play No. 7 Georgia Southern at 2:30 p.m. The winners of both of those matches will meet in the semifinals on Nov. 19 at 4:00 p.m. Sunday’s championship match is scheduled for 1 p.m.

The Red Wolves, last season’s SBC champs and tournament champs, enter the tournament on an 11-match winning streak. Head coach David Rehr has a career record of 6-3 in the conference tournament. A-State has won at least one game in the SBC Tournament during all four of his seasons after an 11-year streak (2001-2011) of not winning a single game in the event.