[media-credit name=’Derek Montgomery’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]The Wisconsin volleyball team will not have to travel for the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament. Awarded the No. 14 overall seed by the NCAA selection committee, UW will host first and second round matches at the Field House this weekend. Wisconsin takes on Loyola (Ill.) Friday. Should they win their opening match, the Badgers would meet the winner of Notre Dame and Valparaiso Saturday evening.

“It was a great surprise,” UW head coach Pete Waite said. “We knew we had a good RPI ranking later in the year, but we were concerned our loss at Purdue might take us out of the chance of hosting. It’s a great surprise for everybody: the players, the fans, everybody’s excited to be here at home.”

The McClain Center auditorium, where the Badgers gathered to learn their fate, erupted into cheers Sunday when the seeding was announced.

“I think it’s going to be great boost,” senior co-captain Marian Weidner said. “I feel like we have a really big advantage playing at home and playing in front of our own fans on our own court.”

Wisconsin’s hopes of hosting were dealt a mild blow Friday, when it was defeated 3-1 by the Purdue Boilermakers. UW rebounded to knock off Indiana Saturday, finishing the conference season in fourth place with a 13-7 record.

“I was thinking we were going to be on the road, personally,” senior Jill Odenthal admitted. “I tried to stay optimistic and say, ‘We’re going to be at home.’ We have a huge fan base, which is nice for the NCAA tournament, and we have pulled out some big wins. It was unexpected, but not totally surprising.”

While unranked in the USA Today/CSTV Top 25 Coaches Poll, Wisconsin boasts a No. 15 Rich Kern Percentage Index ranking. Additionally, the Badgers draw the third-most fans in the nation with an average of 4,218 per gate. Only Hawaii and Nebraska have higher average attendances.

“I honestly don’t believe they look at that too much,” Waite said of the attendance numbers. “I think we just earned the right to host it this year. That says a lot for what the players have done and especially for such a young group. The players really earned that chance to host this year.”

Notre Dame (20-8) will take on Valparaiso (29-4) at 5 p.m. Friday. First serve for Wisconsin (19-9) and Loyola (21-8) is scheduled for 7 p.m. The Loyola Ramblers received an automatic bid to the tournament by defeating Cleveland State to win the Horizon League Tournament.

“We know they’re a strong team every year,” Waite said. “They’re definitely a real scrappy, defensive team. They’re a team we saw last spring. They came up to our spring tournament, so we’ve got some film from that. We’ll get more film through the film exchange during the week.”

UW is one of seven Big Ten teams to receive bids, joining Penn State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan and Purdue.

“It says a lot for the strength of the conference,” Waite said. “My hope is that playing those strong teams prepares us for the NCAA tournament this weekend.”