2011 SLIAC Volleyball Tournament Preview

ST. LOUIS - Greenville College, Principia College, Webster University and Westminster College (Mo.) are all set to take battle for the 2011 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Volleyball Tournament Championship this Saturday, November 5.

Webster (17-12) earned the #1 seed and hosting rights for the Tournament after finishing the regular season 14-2 in conference play. The Gorloks were also regular season co-champions, marking their eighth regular season championship. Webster has a league best 24-9 record in 16 volleyball tournament appearances. They had won four tournament championship titles from 2006-2009, before losing to Greenville in three sets (25-15, 25-16 and 25-20) in last year's championship match.

Webster will host fourth-seeded Westminster at 2:00pm on Saturday. Westminster (14-18) went 8-8 in the SLIAC this season and has posted a 13-7 record in nine volleyball tournament appearances. The Blue Jays will face a rematch of last year's tournament semifinal match in which they lost to Webster in four sets, 25-21, 20-25, 25-12, 25-17. Westminster has won one SLIAC Tournament Championship in 1998 as the #1 seed, when they defeated MacMurray College 15-10, 15-7, 15-12.

Greenville (21-8) also went 14-2 in the SLIAC and was regular season co-champions for the second consecutive year. The Panthers are the defending tournament champions, after winning their first championship in 2010 as the #1 seed. Greenville is 4-8 in nine volleyball tournament appearances. Greenville, who earned the #2 seed, will face third-seeded Principia at 4:00pm on Saturday.

Principia (19-18) finished 11-5 in league play and will be making their 16th volleyball tournament appearance. Principia, who is 11-18 all-time in conference tournament action, lost their semifinal game last season to Greenville in four sets, 25-21, 25-23, 17-25.  Principia is also the lone team in the tournament that has yet to win a SLIAC Tournament Championship.

SLIAC Volleyball Tournament Bracket:
Semifinals (Nov. 5)
#4-Westminster at #1-Webster, 2:00pm
#3-Principia vs. #2 Greenville, 4:00pm
Championship (Nov. 5)
Semifinal winners, 7:00pm

The four coaches representing this year's tournament field participated in a live chat earlier this week. An archive of the chat is available here.