SUWANEE, GA. - The 12th ranked Southwestern University Pirates extended their winning streak to 28 matches thanks to a perfect 4-0 week. The Pirates hosted the Southwestern Halloween Tournament, in preparations for the SCAC Championship Nov.6-7 in Atlanta, Ga.

AROUND THE SCAC

Austin College finished up the regular season by going 3-1 at Southwestern’s Halloween Tournament over the weekend, topping Loyola (La.) and St. Thomas 3-0 and Huston-Tillotson 3-1 before falling 3-0 to Texas Lutheran. Against Loyola, the ’Roos won 25-18, 25-13, 25-17 behind 11 kills from Jessi Fleming, and Fleming added 18 kills while Jordan Anderton had 33 assists in a 25-20, 28-26, 25-21 win over St. Thomas. On Saturday the ’Roos got 30 assists, 12 digs and six kills from Kelly McDaniel and Fleming once again led the way with 11 kills in a 25-19, 25-15, 23-25, 25-16 win over Huston-Tillotson. Against TLU, the ’Roos fell in a hard fought match by scores of 24-26, 29-31, 24-26. Chitra Kavouspour had 15 kills and no hitting errors in the match, and Jenna Wilson added 26 digs.

Birmingham-Southern was 1-3 this past weekend at the Emory Halloween Tournament, defeating LaGrange College, 3-1, but falling to Berry College, 3-2, Randolph-Macon College, 3-1, and No. 4 Emory University, 3-1. Senior Sarah Harris led the team with 48 total kills over the four matches, averaging 2.8 kills per set, and junior Christine Denning led with 128 assists (7.5 per set). Junior Jennifer McKannan also led with 78 digs (4.6 per set). The Panthers finish up the 2009 season this week at home, taking on Miles College on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. in Bill Battle Coliseum.

Centre hosted a tri-match on Saturday against Thomas More College and Maryville College. The Colonels dropped both matches on Saturday by scores of 0-3 against Thomas More and 2-3 against Maryville (a team they beat earlier in the year to win the Hanover Invitational). Next up for the Colonels is the SCAC tournament hosted by Oglethorpe in Atlanta, Ga. Centre will begin tournament play against 11th seeded Sewanee on Friday morning.

No. 13 Colorado College reached the 30-victory mark for just the third time in the program’s 31-year history with a 3-1 victory over Colorado Christian University on Friday night at Reid Gymnasium. Playing in front of the largest home crowd of the season on “Dig Pink” night, the Tigers improved to 30-3 and bumped their single-season record winning percentage to .909. Colorado College ran its home record to 19-0. The Tigers finished with 10 blocks and held the Cougars to a .035 team hitting percentage. Emily Perkins and Sarah Schmoker paced the CC offense with 12 kills apiece, while Amy Schornack added a career-high five service aces. Laura Goldsmith led the defense with a match-high 12 digs. Colorado College plays its final home match of the season on Tuesday night when CSU-Pueblo visits Reid Gymnasium for senior night.

No. 24 DePauw is 27-7 on the season after splitting its two matches last week. The Tigers blanked Illinois College 3-0 before losing to Marian (Ind.) 3-0. Against Illinois College, Kristen Chynoweth led the Tigers with 10 kills and shared the team lead with Abby Balbach with three blocks apiece. Ali Smith paced DePauw with 26 assists, while Kylee Lehrman had five service aces and Madison Hoenig 13 digs. In the loss at Marian, Katey Larson led the Tigers with 13 kills, while Smith totaled 20 assists and Hoenig added 14 digs.

Hendrix split its four contests at the Inaugural Hendrix College Ghost Host on Friday and Saturday afternoons at Grove Gymnasium. The Warriors won both of their games on Friday against Central Baptist College (3-1) and Westminster College (3-0), and then dropped their final two affairs on Saturday afternoon against Ouachita Baptist University (0-3) and Williams Baptist College (1-3). Hendrix finishes the 2009 regular season with a 12-23 overall record and will take its 4-11 SCAC mark into next weekend’s conference tournament. Warriors’ senior outside hitter Ryan Hughes finished her final weekend in Grove Gymnasium with 30 kills and five aces. First year middle blocker Melissa Clement led the team with 32 kills, while junior outside hitter Becca Clancy also tallied 30 kills in the four-game stretch. Junior middle blocker Leah Groat racked up 29 kills and 6.5 blocks over the weekend. Sophomore setter Ashley Skinner paced the squad with 90 assists and junior libero Kim Larson recorded 78 digs.

Millsaps (15-16, 5-9 SCAC) split a pair of non-conference matches this past week. The Majors hosted Rust College at The Hangar Dome Wednesday night as they honored Dixie Krauss and Amanda Cain on Senior Night. Millsaps dominated its way to a 3-0 victory in only 42 minutes. Playing their final regular-season match at Belhaven College Friday night, the Majors struggled to get a rhythm and fell 3-0. Millsaps will take on host Oglethorpe University at the 2009 SCAC Championship Tournament Friday, Nov. 6, at 1:00 p.m.

Oglethorpe finished the regular season in style by winning two non-conference matches over Tennessee Wesleyan and Wesleyan (Macon). The Petrels needed four games to dispatch Tennessee Wesleyan (17-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-20) and then swept by Wesleyan in three (25-5, 25-7, 25-9). With the victories, Oglethorpe stands at 15-19 on the season. The fifteen regular season wins are the most by the program since 1999 when the Petrels posted a 21-19 overall record. Oglethorpe hosts the SCAC Championships this coming weekend.

Rhodes went 0-3 this weekend at the Washington University Bear Classic. The team was led by Libero Kayla McCrury who led the Lynx with 67 digs on the weekend, averaging 6.7 digs per set on the weekend. She also only had one reception error on 34 attempts. For her efforts, McCrury was named to the All Tournament team.

Sewanee hosted the Sewanee Invitational #2 this weekend and dropped matches to Emory and Henry (0-3), Piedmont (0-3) and Huntingdon (2-3). Sewanee got up 2-0 over Huntingdon, but the Hawks rallied for the 3-2 win. Sewanee sits at 3-27 and 0-15 in the SCAC. The Tigers will compete in the SCAC tournament next weekend at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Ga. The 11th seeded Tigers will take on #6 Centre College on Friday morning at 11:30 a.m.

No. 12 Southwestern closed out its regular season by hosting the Halloween Volleyball Tournament and dominated their home court winning all four games to extend their win streak to 28 and sit at 30-3 on the season. The Pirates defeated Concordia University – Wis. 3-2 and St. Thomas (Texas) 3-1 on Friday. Saturday, SU defeated Loyola (La.) 3-1 and Texas Lutheran 3-0. Prior to the Texas Lutheran match, SU honored its five seniors Audra Gentry, Ali Zein-Eldin, Sam Lingamfelter, Reese Cisneros and Lauren Brown. This group has been the most successful class since the program joined Division III and have an impressive 127-29 overall record and 49-12 mark in the SCAC so far in their career. Sophomore Lindsay Thompson led the team in kills for the weekend with 43 while five other Pirates had double digit kills. Thompson also recorded 15 blocks to lead Southwestern. Sophomore Christina Nicholls logged 161 assists while senior Sam Lingamfelter had 97 digs. Coming up next for the Pirates is the SCAC Tournament in Atlanta, Ga. hosted by Oglethorpe University. SU opens on Friday, November 6th at 4:30 pm and will face the winner of the Rhodes/Hendrix match.

No. 17 Trinity finished 1-2 at the Trinity University National Invitational, facing off against top-ranked Juniata, second-ranked UW-Oshkosh, and No. 8 Wittenberg. The Tigers lost matches to both Juniata and UW-Oshkosh, but defeated No. 8 Wittenberg 3-2 in a thrilling conclusion to the regular season. Tayler Malloy and Aly Hazelwood both averaged more than 2.8 kills/set for the weekend, and Hazelwood hit a blistering .385 against three of the top eight teams in the nation. Hazelwood and Ginger Haley also recorded 11 blocks each in the 11 sets played to lead the Tigers. Trinity will open up defense of its SCAC title as the fourth seed of this weekend’s SCAC Championships Tournament. The Tigers face off against Austin College in their first match, and the team will be looking for its 12th straight SCAC title.

For the complete SCAC Spikes Weekly for Week 9, click here.