THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 25, 1996 TAG: 9605250710
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 33 lines
Old Dominion is bidding to become the first host school of the Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament Final Four this fall.
The third year of the tournament, scheduled for Nov. 15-20, will mark the first time the Final Four is staged at the home site of one of the semifinalists.
Of the 16 teams in the field, 14 participated in this year's NCAA tournament. In addition to ODU, Louisiana Tech, Iowa and national champion Tennessee will be competing.
Old Dominion will host George Washington in the first round Nov. 15. The winner would face the North Carolina State/Appalachian State winner Nov. 17.
Athletic director Jim Jarrett wwants ODU to be selected as host if it advances to the semifinals, and he would like to see the event played at Scope.
``It's going to take some strong support by the corporate community and the city,'' he said. ``But it's an exciting opportunity if you look at the field and hypothesize about Louisiana Tech, Iowa, Tennessee and ODU in the Final Four.''
Jarrett is finalizing the school's bid and hoping ODU, which hosted the first women's NCAA Final Four in 1981, will add another chapter to women's basketball history. For the Lady Monarchs to host, they must be playing in the tournament's semifinals and have presented the most attractive bid among the four remaining teams. Jarrett expects to know how ODU's bid compares with the others by mid-June.
Tournament attendance for the '95 event, held solely at home sites, averaged 3,530 and totaled nearly 53,000. by CNB