San Antonio comes out a winner at volleyball Final Four

UTSA concluded its hosting duties for the NCAA Division I Volleyball National Championship on Saturday Dec. 17, with a national championship game that pitted the Fighting Illini of Illinois against the Bruins of UCLA.

The championship game was decided in four sets with UCLA winning over Illinois. The win marked the seventh National Championship victory for UCLA's volleyball team and the 108th national championship for the UCLA athletic department.

The championship game wasn't the only action in San Antonio. The entire weekend provided compelling volleyball play beginning with a five set thriller in the national semifinals between the USC Trojans and the Illini and a three set sweep of the Florida State Seminoles by the Bruins.

The competition provided an opportunity for the city of San Antonio and UTSA to host fan bases and teams that normally wouldn't come through San Antonio if not for the final four.

"We're excited to be in San Antonio," Illinois Head Coach Kevin Hambly said. "Not just for the final four but because it is such a cool city."

The final four was the latest in a run of NCAA events that have been hosted by UTSA and the city of San Antonio. It was the second event in 2011 to be held at the Alamodome after the NCAA Men's Southwest Regional championship was held there in March.

For Assistant Athletic Director Jim Serra, who was tasked with putting on the final four, it was the end of a long time spent preparing to host.

"About a year out was when the preparation began," Serra said. "Then with four to three months to go, the preparation really got going."

The two championship events of 2011 were added to UTSA's extensive list of NCAA events hosted going all the way back to the 1998 Men's Basketball Final Four. Since that first final four, the university has hosted 14 NCAA tournament events, including the 2005 Volleyball Final Four.

"For us to host an event with such a great draw of people is good publicity for this university," Serra said. "When you can pull something off like that it says a lot about the university, the city and the dome-that they can come together and do something so great."

Now that the calendar has turned to 2012, UTSA strives to continue landing prestigious NCAA tournament events that provide a platform to advertise the school and city as well as bring in even more tourism into the region.

Though it may be a while before UTSA and San Antonio can host another final four, as evidenced by the recent requirement of placing the final four in large 75,000+ capacity stadiums like Houston's Reliant Stadium and Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium, the city and school will still follow the process in hopes of getting another regional of the men's basketball tournament.

"Once the bid cycle begins again we will bid on events," Serra said. "Whether its another volleyball championship or a men's basketball event or women's, we will try and bid on getting another."