1997 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament explained

The 1997 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament began with 56 teams and ended on December 20, 1997, when Stanford defeated Penn State 3 games to 2 in the NCAA championship match.

Stanford won their second straight title and 4th in 6 years. After winning the first two games 15-10, 15-6, Penn State forced a fifth game as the Nittany Lions won the next two 15-2, 17-15. In the decisive fifth game, Stanford jumped out to the 12-8 lead before Kristin Folkl recorded the final three kills for the 15-9 win. Stanford finished the year 33-2, with their only two losses coming from Penn State in the early season.^[1]

The 1997 NCAA tournament was the first, and would be the last, year with 56 tournament teams, as it was expanded from 48 teams (1993-1996). In 1998, the tournament would be expanded to its present-day 64 tournament teams.

Play-in games

Records

valign=top	East Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record BYU WAC Automatic 27-5 Fairfield MAAC Automatic 25-9 Hofstra America East Automatic 23-13 Maryland ACC At-large 26-1 Miami (OH) Mid-American At-large 23-7 Michigan Big Ten At-large 20-11 Minnesota Big Ten At-large 22-9 Northern Illinois Mid-American Automatic 26-3 Ohio State Big Ten At-large 22-10 Penn State Big Ten Auto (shared) 30-1 Princeton Ivy League Automatic 22-5 Temple Atlantic 10 Automatic 29-4 Texas A&M Big 12 At-large 24-7 Villanova Big East At-large 20-8	valign=top	Central Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record American CAA Automatic 30-3 Arkansas SEC At-large 29-5 Arkansas-Little Rock Sun Belt Automatic 16-12 Clemson ACC Automatic 26-7 Colorado State WAC At-large 26-5 Florida SEC Automatic 31-3 Florida State ACC At-large 25-8 Lehigh Patriot Automatic 18-12 Liberty Big South Automatic 26-8 Notre Dame Big East Automatic 23-8 South Florida Conference USA At-large 25-8 UCF Trans America Automatic 27-3 Washington State Pac-10 At-large 24-6 Wisconsin Big Ten Auto (shared) 28-2
valign=top	Pacific Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record Butler Midwestern Collegiate Automatic 27-6 Cal State Sacramento Big Sky Automatic 23-8 Chattanooga Southern Automatic 26-9 Hawaii WAC At-large 25-7 Kansas State Big 12 At-large 20-12 Long Beach State Big West Automatic 30-1 Loyola Marymount West Coast At-large 21-6 Michigan State Big Ten At-large 22-11 Morgan State MEAC Automatic 25-9 Nebraska Big 12 At-large 25-6 Pacific Big West At-large 22-8 San Diego West Coast Automatic 25-3 USC Pac-10 At-large 21-5 Washington Pac-10 At-large 18-9	valign=top	Mountain Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record Arizona Pac-10 At-large 20-6 Colorado Big 12 At-large 20-8 Houston Conference USA Automatic 22-9 Illinois State Missouri Valley Automatic 24-8 Oklahoma Big 12 At-large 19-12 Oral Roberts Mid-Continent Automatic 28-9 Pepperdine West Coast At-large 23-5 South Carolina SEC At-large 20-7 Stanford Pac-10 Automatic 28-2 Stephen F. Austin Southland Automatic 23-12 Tennessee Tech Ohio Valley Automatic 23-9 Texas Big 12 Automatic 23-6 UC Santa Barbara Big West At-large 29-4 UCLA Pac-10 At-large 16-12

Brackets

Mountain Regional - Stanford, CA

See also

• NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship

Notes and References

1. Web site: Stanford Captures Fourth NCAA Championship . 1997-12-20 . Stanford Athletics . 2009-03-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110724004555/http://www.gostanford.com/sports/w-volley/recaps/stan-w-volley-r19971220.html . 2011-07-24 . dead .