2012 SLIAC Volleyball Tournament Preview

ST. LOUIS - Greenville College, Principia College, Webster University and Westminster College (Mo.) are all set to take battle for the 2012 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Volleyball Tournament Championship this Saturday, November 3.

Greenville (22-8) earned the #1 seed and hosting rights for the Tournament after finishing the regular season 15-1 in conference play. The Panthers were also regular season co-champions for the third consecutive year. Greenville is 5-9 in 10 volleyball tournament appearances.

Greenville will host fourth-seeded Principia at 2:00pm on Saturday. Principia (17-15) went 11-5 in the SLIAC this season and has posted an 11-19 record in 16 volleyball tournament appearances. Principia will face a rematch of last year's tournament semifinal match in which they lost to Greenville in five sets, 25-22, 27-29, 11-25, 30-28, 15-11. Principia is also the lone team in the tournament that has yet to win a SLIAC Tournament Championship.

Webster (22-9) also went 15-1 in the SLIAC and was regular season co-champions, marking their ninth regular season championship. The Gorloks are the defending tournament champions, after defeating Greenville in three sets, 25-16, 25-17, 25-23, in 2011 as the #1 seed. They had also won four tournament championship titles from 2006-2009, before losing to Greenville in the 2010 tournament championship match. Webster has a league best 26-9 record in 17 volleyball tournament appearances. Webster, who earned the #2 seed, will face third-seeded Westminster at 4:00pm on Saturday.

Westminster (16-14) finished 11-5 in league play and will be making their 11th volleyball tournament appearance. The Blue Jays, who are 13-8 all-time in conference tournament action, lost their semifinal game last season to Webster in three sets, 25-20, 20-14, 25-23. Westminster has won one SLIAC Tournament Championship in 1998 as the #1 seed, when they defeated MacMurray College 15-10, 15-7, 15-12.

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

The 2012 SLIAC Tournament Championship match will also be webcast live on Collegecasts.com. For more information, visit the SLIAC Volleyball Tournament site.