After becoming the first team to rally from a 2-0 deficit in the Colonial Athletic Association Championship match and win the title, the George Mason women's volleyball team opens play in the NCAA Tournament with a matchup at No. 7 seed Iowa State. Friday's contest is the first match between the Patriots and Cyclones, who were the Big XII Conference runner-up. First serve is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. central time (8:30 p.m. ET).

Live stats are available through Gametracker at the link above, while fans can also watch the action from Hilton Coliseum live via the free video streaming link above.

This year's berth in the NCAA Tournament is the first for Mason since 2003, when it won its last CAA title. The Patriots fell to Colorado State, 3-0, in a first round match at College Park, Md., that season. Overall, Mason has compiled a 1-6 record in the tournament, with the lone win coming at home over Indiana in 1995.

Iowa State set a school record with 25 wins this season, and received the No. 5 overall ranking in the latest edition of the AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll. The Cyclones are the second ranked team Mason will have faced this season, as the Patriots hosted No. 11 Minnesota on Aug. 31.

Iowa State placed three Cyclones on the All-Big 12 First Team, including Ashley Mass, who was named the conference's Libero of the Year. ISU head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch earned Big 12 Coach of the Year honors. Johnson-Lynch has experience with the Patriots, as she was the setter on the 1995 Nebraska team which defeated Mason in the second round en route to winning the national title.

While Friday is the first time Mason will face Iowa State, the two teams shared two common opponents in 2009: George Washington and Minnesota. Mason was swept by both the Colonials and the Golden Gophers, while ISU swept GW and lost 3-1 to Minnesota.

A victory on Friday night would be just the third win for Mason against a Big XII opponent. The Patriots are 2-8 all-time against members of the conference, with the last matchup coming in 2000, a 3-0 loss at Texas Tech.

The Patriots have won 23 matches this season, the most since the 1996 season when Mason went 26-3 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament folllowing a first-round bye. Tuesday's victory over VCU eclipsed the 22-win total by the 2002 Patriots. The total is the fifth-most wins by a Pat Kendrick-coached team.

Mason's berth in the 2009 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship is the 17th-ever appearance by a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, and the Patriots are one of only three CAA teams to record a victory in the NCAA Tournament, and prior to 2006, the only CAA team to do so. Both Hofstra and Delaware won their first round matches in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

If the Patriots can advance to the second round by knocking off No. 5-ranked Iowa State, Mason will face the winner of the Saint Louis-Wichita State first-round match in the second round. That match is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday evening.