Published: January 22, 2008 11:21 pm         

Mountain State has to travel for regional tournament

NAIA Division 1 No. 1 Mountain State University will travel to South Carolina again in March for the NAIA Independent Regional Tournament.

The tournament will be held at Claflin University in Orangeburg, S.C., March 7-9.

Allen University, Morris College and Voorhees College each hail from South Carolina.

Other teams in the tournament include Brescia (Ky.) and Park (Mo.)

“I don’t know that it matters,” Mountain State coach Bob Bolen said. “It’s there, so we’re going to have to live with it. You still have to win the games.”

The Independent Regional was played in Beckley for a few years before it was moved to South Carolina. The Independents wanted to host the men and women at the same venue to cut down on travel costs.

“I was disappointed when they took it away from Beckley,” Bolen said. “The attendance was always better here than it was there. But when you are in a group of Independents, the majority rules. And I will say, they did a good job hosting the tournament last year (in Columbia).”

The top two teams in the region receive first-round byes. Only three teams currently have winning records (MSU is 18-0, Park is 12-9 and Voorhees is 9-5). Barring a total collapse, MSU is on track to receive one of those byes.

Park won the Independent Regional last year by beating Mountain State in the finals.

Bolen said he wouldn’t mind getting another chance to beat Park in the regional tournament.

“I’d love to play them again,” Bolen said. “But that’s so far down the road, we aren’t going to worry about that right now. But when that time gets here, yeah, I’d like to play them again.”