The University of La Verne (21-5) meets Hardin-Simmons (29-3) Friday in Thousand Oaks durnig the opening round action of NCAA Volleyball Regional at 5:30 pm.  The winner will advance to face the winner of the Cal Lutheran-Southwestern contest on Saturday.

ABOUT HARDIN-SIMMONS: The Cowgirls are making their third consecutive appearance and fourth trip overall to the NCAA Tournament.  Champions of the American Southwest Conference, Hardin-Simmons goes into the postseason riding a school-record 25-game winning streak.  Each of the team's three losses came at the hands of SCIAC opponents, which include Cal Lutheran, Occidental and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps - all occuring in Thousand Oaks at the Cal Lutheran Tournament the weekend of September 7-8.  The squad is led by senior outside hitter Madison Reyes, the 2012 MVP of the American Southwest Conference.  HSU is also aided by junior outside hitter Christine Sas, who earned First Team All-ASC honors this season.

WELCOME BACK, LEOPARDS!:  La Verne will make its first NCAA Tournament appearance after a three-year hiatus.  The Leos advanced to the West Region Final in their last trip in 2009, falling to Colorado College in five sets.   The senior trio of Kendall Kraiss, Randi Taylor-Toomay and Catie Logan are holdovers from the Leos' last venture to the national tournament.

RETURN TRIP TO THOUSAND OAKS:  The Leopards are quite familiar with the surroundings of Gilbert Arena as Friday's match will mark La Verne's seventh contest at Cal Lutheran this season.  The Leos won four matches at the Cal Lutheran Tournament in early September before dropping a five-setter to CLU back on September 18.  La Verne hopes to have a different outcome from last week's trip to Thousand Oaks when it fell to Chapman in the SCIAC Postseason semifinals (Nov. 1).

CRIBBS, TAYLOR-TOOMAY EARN ALL-REGION HONORS:  Taylor-Toomay and fellow senior Kayla Cribbs represented the University of La Verne on the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-West Region Team as announced by the AVCA on Thursday.  Taylor-Toomay has been the primary offensive option this season with a team-high 388 kills on the year.  Cribbs led the squad in both blocks (96, 1.07 per set) and hitting percentage (.296).  Both Taylor-Toomay and Cribbs receive their first All-Region accolades

NCAA HISTORY:  Through 2009, the Leopards were a perennial entrant to the NCAAs, reeling off 10 straight appearances (2000-2009).  During that span, the Leos captured the national title in 2001 under Don Flora and reached the national semifinals three consecutive seasons in 2003, 2004 and 2005.  La Verne also reached the NCAA title match in 2008, falling to Emory in four sets.  This year marks the 30th anniversary of La Verne's first NCAA title, occurring in 1982 under Leopard Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Paschal.  The year before, the Leopards claimed the 1981 AIAW Championship.

REGIONAL WEBSITE