SUWANEE, Ga. - With conference play finished, the seeds have been set for the 2009 SCAC Volleyball championship. For the second consecutive year, the Southwestern University Pirates earned the conference's #1 seed and look to win its first SCAC title since 2005.
Colorado College (#2), DePauw University (#3), Trinity University (#4), Austin College (#5) and Centre College (#6) round out the top six seeds. Following them are #7 Millsaps College, #8 Rhodes College, #9 Hendrix College, #10 Oglethorpe University and #11 Sewanee: The University of the South.
AROUND THE SCAC
Austin College went
3-2 last week, topping UT-Tyler 3-0 before splitting its four
weekend matches at the Austin College Invitational to bring the
team’s overall record to 23-9. The ‘Roos topped Dallas
3-0 before falling 3-0 to Hardin-Simmons on Friday and then
defeated Concordia 3-0 on Saturday before closing out the weekend
with a tough 3-1 loss to McMurry. Jordan Anderton had a strong
weekend for the ’Roos, averaging 11.47 assists per game with
a .515 hitting percentage and 3.73 digs per game. Jessi Fleming
posted a .412 hitting percentage while averaging 3.8 kills and 1.8
blocks per game, and Jenna Wilson added 3.13 kills and 5 digs per
game over the course of the week.
Birmingham-Southern played a mid-week match at
home this week, defeating Miles College, 3-0, and then split this
past weekend at the SCAC East/Central Divisional #2. On Saturday,
the Panthers lost to Centre, 3-2, but defeated Oglethorpe, 3-1. On
Sunday, they lost to DePauw, 3-1, and beat Millsaps, 3-2. Senior
Sarah Harris led the team in kills in three of four matches, junior
Christine Denning led in assists in all four matches, and junior
Jennifer McKannan led in digs in three of four matches. The
Panthers are on the road for their next four matches, traveling to
Atlanta for the Emory Halloween Tournament to face Berry College,
Randolph-Macon College, LaGrange College, and No. 4 Emory.
Centre went 3-1 over the weekend with conference
wins against Birmingham-Southern, Hendrix, and Millsaps while
losing a close four game match to DePauw. The 3-1 record secured
the sixth place seed for Centre going into the conference
tournament on Nov. 6-7 in Atlanta. This is the highest seed for
Centre going into the conference tournament since 2005. The
Colonels will have three matches this week to help prepare for the
upcoming conference tournament. On Wednesday they will honor their
seven seniors with a match against Asbury College and on Saturday
they will host their annual Halloween Bash with matches against
Maryville and Thomas More.
No. 14 Colorado College won the 2009 Molten
Volleyball Spike It Up Classic and strengthened its grip on the No.
1 ranking in the West Region by sweeping Chapman University twice
on Saturday. The Tigers began the day with a 3-1 win over the
Panthers in and then claimed the tournament title with a 3-0
victory on Saturday night. CC improved to 29-3 and extended its
current winning streak to eight matches. The 29 victories are
already a single-season high for head coach Rick Swan. Junior
middle blocker Erika Pirotte was voted the tournament’s MVP,
while junior middle blocker Emily Perkins and sophomore setter Amy
Schornack also were voted to the all-tournament team. Meredith
Ballard had 10 kills and hit .474 to lead the Tiger attack in the
championship match.
DePauw swept all four matches at the final SCAC
Divisional as it topped Millsaps by a 3-1 (25-15, 19-25,
25-16,25-22) score on Saturday and beat Rhodes, 3-0 (25-15, 25-18,
25-12). On Sunday, the Tigers blanked Birmingham-Southern 3-0
(25-20, 25-15, 25-18) and defeated Centre 3-1 (25-23, 18-25, 26-24,
25-17). In DePauw's four matches, Abby Balbach led with 2.5 kills
per set, while Paige Thompson paced the squad with 1.4 blocks per
set. Ali Smith also led with 10.3 assists per set with Kylee
Lehrman totaling six service aces and Madison Hoenig leading with
69 digs. The Tigers' 26 wins is the most since the 2002 team also
finished with 26.
Hendrix 2-3 on the week with a five-set loss to
Lyon College on Tuesday and a 2-2 record at the second SCAC Central
vs. East Divisional Crossover, hosted by Centre College on Saturday
and Sunday. Lyon came out on top with a 17-15 win in the final set
to hand Hendrix a mid-week 3-2 loss. Warriors’ senior outside
hitter Ryan Hughes led the squad with 13 kills in the contest. The
Pipers evened the season-series at 1-1. The Warriors won the
previous match, 3-0, on Sept. 26. Hughes posted a season-high in
kills on 19 attempts. The Warriors opened both days of the SCAC
Crossover tournament with wins against Oglethorpe (3-1) and Sewanee
(3-0), respectively. Hendrix’s win over Oglethorpe snapped a
five game skid. Hendrix suffered a 0-3 affair to Centre on Saturday
night and a 2-3 loss to SCAC rival Rhodes College on Sunday
afternoon. The Warriors now stand at 10-21 overall and 4-11 in
conference action and will look to improve their overall mark in
the first ever Hendrix College Ghost Host on Oct. 30 and 31 at
Grove Gymnasium.
Millsaps (14-15, 5-9
SCAC) ended a tough week where they went 1-3 in a SCAC
Cross-Divisional hosted by Centre College. The Majors opened play
with DePauw University on Saturday and fell 3-1 before coming back
to sweep Sewanee University 3-0. Starting play Sunday morning, the
Majors lost to host Centre 3-1 and dropped a heartbreaking match to
Birmingham-Southern College 3-2. Junior Kate Hall led the team with
52 kills and senior Dixie Krauss led the defense with 48 digs over
the weekend. Millsaps will return to the friendly confines of The
Hangar Dome after its 15-match road trip when Rust College comes to
town Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 7:00 p.m. as the Majors prepare for the
2009 SCAC Championship Tournament.
Oglethorpe managed to win one of four conference
matches this past weekend. The Petrels were topped by the same
score of 3-1 against Hendrix and Birmingham Southern while Rhodes
swept the Petrels, 3-0. Oglethorpe managed to tally a victory over
Sewanee, sweeping the Tigers by the score of 3-0. Oglethorpe is now
13-19 on the season and will get set to host the 2009 SCAC
Volleyball Championships on November 6 and 7.
Rhodes went 3-1 this weekend at the last SCAC
East-Central Divisional. The Lynx defeated Sewanee, Oglethorpe and
Hendrix in a five set thriller. Senior Middle Blocker Maura Mohler
led the Lynx with 15 total blocks on the weekend while Senior
Setter picked up another triple double versus Hendrix with 37
assists, 10 kills and 11 digs.
Sewanee fell in all four matches played this
weekend at the SCAC East/West Divisional held on the campus of
Centre College. Erin Brahm had 52 assists on the weekend. Libby
Boddiford led the Tigers in kills for the matches against Rhodes,
Hendrix and Oglethorpe with totals of five, five and six. Sewanee's
record drops to 0-15 in SCAC play and 3-24 overall. The Tigers will
wrap up regular season play on Friday and Saturday as they host
Emory and Henry, Piedmont and Huntingdon at Juhan Gymnasium.
No. 12 Southwestern pushed its winning streak to
24 over the weekend with three wins at the Austin College
Tournament held in Sherman, Texas. Friday started with the Pirates
facing off with McMurry University and Southwestern jumped out
early and took the match in three games and then closed out day one
with a 3-0 victory over Concordia (TX). The Pirates returned to
their stellar early play in Sunday’s match, starting off with
a .382 hitting percentage and took game one 25-14. SU made things a
little more interesting in the final two games, but found a way to
win them 25-22 and 25-21 to take the match 3-0. Senior Audra Gentry
led Southwestern with 35 kills over the weekend while sophomore
Lindsay Thompson was close behind with 27. Sophomore Christina
Nicholls racked up 93 assists and senior Sam Lingamfelter dug up 60
balls in the three contests. Southwestern returns home for its
final competition before the SCAC tournament. The Pirates will host
Concordia (Wis.), St. Thomas (Texas), Loyola University (La.) and
Texas Lutheran at their annual Halloween Tournament on October
30-31.
No. 17 Trinity swept the competition at the
Trinity Fall Classic over the weekend. Trinity defeated Texas
Lutheran University and University of Texas-Tyler 3-0 to open the
tournament, then finished off the weekend with a 3-2 win over
Elmhurst College on Saturday afternoon. Ginger Haley was named the
Tournament MVP for her performance, which included 26 kills, 15
blocks, and a .404 hitting percentage. Caiti Troyer was also named
to the All-Tournament Team, averaging 10.0 assists/set and tallying
30 digs for the Tigers. Trinity will play its toughest tournament
of the season this weekend, facing off against three teams ranked
in the top 10 nationally. The Tigers play host to top-ranked
UW-Oshkosh, second-ranked Juniata, and No. 7 Wittenberg over the
two-day Trinity University National Invitational.
For the complete SCAC Spikes Weekly for Week 8, click here.