SLIAC Weekly Release - September 9th

This week in the SLIAC is a weekly review of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. It recaps the prior weeks results and highlights upcoming events. You can also find the latest standings, statistics, schedules and awards.

HEADLINES
Tight Race Expected in 2015 Volleyball Season (August 19, 2015)
According to the 2015 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Volleyball Preseason poll a tight race is expected with three teams picking up first-place votes and Greenville College earning the preseason favorite spot atop the poll.....MORE

Brough To Take Over Highlander Baseball Program (September 8, 2015)
Austin Brough, who has been assistant baseball coach for the past two years, has been named head baseball coach at MacMurray College.....MORE

MacMurray Names New Softball Coach (September 8, 2015)
The MacMurray Highlanders appointed Samantha Valentine, of Jacksonville, IL, as the new women’s softball coach.....MORE

SLIAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

The SLIAC Players of the Week are honored for their performances during the week. Click on the sport link below to see the full list of 2015-16 Players of the Week. For this week's Player of the Week release - HERE

Men's Cross Country l Women's Cross Country l Men's Soccer l Women's Soccer l Volleyball l Men's Golf

SLIAC FALL STANDINGS

AROUND THE SLIAC

First year Beaver head coach Jordan Barton will embark on a road trip this week including a pair of conference matches this weekend. The Beavers will face Illinois College on the road Wednesday night before opening up SLIAC play with a double header when they face Spalding and Principia on Saturday. The double header will be played in Elsah, Illinois.

The Eureka men's soccer team won their 2015 debut 4-3 over Lincoln Christian last week. After falling behind 2-0, Brady Thomas put the Red Devils on the board with the first of three goals on the day. Thomas completed his hat trick with the game winning goal, on a penalty kick, at the 75-minute mark. Next up for Eureka is an out of conference game against Iowa Wesleyan on Wednesday and a game against Rockford on Saturday.

After setting a school record for wins in a season last year, the Griffins women's soccer team is off to another strong start this year. The Griffins went 2-1 on a road swing last week that saw them head to Tennessee. After dropping their opener to Franklin the Griffins responded with a 2-1 double overtime win over Southwestern (Texas) and a 1-0 win over Ozarks (Ark.). The Griffins host three straight games starting this week.

The 2014 SLIAC Volleyball Defensive Player of the Year, Jamie Schollenbruch, is off to another strong start this year. Schollenbruch picked up weekly SLIAC Player of the Week honors after averaging 4.84 digs through seven matches last week. She totaled 121 digs including a high of 29 digs in a five set match against MSOE. In addition Schollenbruch added 21 assists and three service aces.

Patrick Zielinski took home a top ten finish after competing in the Clarke University Fall Invite last week. Zielinski shot a team low of 78 in the one day tournament, tying for 9th individually. Michael Neff finished one stroke back while Kiley Miller and Bo Vitale tied for 15th with a round of 80. The Tigers shot a team score of 317, placing second in the field.

Alexa Boyer guided the Highlander volleyball squad to a pair of wins in their opening week as they played in the Monmouth Tournament. Boyer was named All-Tournament after helping her team pick up wins over Principia and Eureka. Boyer averaged 7.91 assists, currently tops in the SLIAC, and added 27 digs and 11 kills. She also picked up SLIAC Offensive Player of the Week honors this week.

Principia's Sophia Hathaway recorded a triple double on the volleyball court last week in her teams win over Illinois College. Hathaway finished the match with 14 kills, 24 assists, and 10 digs. She recored her 14 kills on just 22 swings, committing no errors. Principia is currently 2-2 on the season and open up SLIAC play against Spalding and Blackburn this weekend.

Spalding cross country runner Brandon Price was named the SLIAC Men's Cross Country Player of the Week this week after a strong showing in the Belmont Opener in Nashville, Tenn. Price placed 3rd amon Non-Division I runner with a time of 16:23. His 5:16 mile pace in the 5K race allowed him to finish just 12 seconds behind the Non-Division I winner.

The Webster University athletic department is currently accepting nominations for their Hall of Fame. The deadline for Class of 2016 nominees is September 18th. For full nomination information and to nominate a former Webster player, coach, team, or contributing individual click HERE

The Blue Jay soccer teams put together identical 2-1 records during the first week of the 2015 season. Leading the way offensively were Drake Trease and Morgan Henry. Trease led the men's team with two goals and two assists while Henry paced the women with three goals. Both players picked up SLIAC Offensive Player of the Week honors for their sport.

THIS WEEK'S SLIAC SCHEDULE

To see a complete schedule of this week's SLIAC action click HERE

KEEP UP WITH THE SLIAC ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Be sure to keep up with the SLIAC using various social media platforms. You can follow us on Twitter (@sliac) HERE or Facebook (St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) HERE

Be sure to check out the SLIAC You Tube Channel. Coming soon we will release new videos featuring student-athletes from around the conference as well as new this, interviews with coaches and administration from around the SLIAC. You can also view our previous feature vidos and get to know out student-athletes outside of athletics and get an idea of what it is like to be a NCAA Division III student-athlete.