2013 SLIAC Volleyball Tournament Preview
Posted: Nov 07, 2013

2013 SLIAC Volleyball Tournament Preview

Familiar teams will be on the court Saturday for the SLIAC Volleyball Tournament. For the fourth consecutive year Greenville College, Principia College, Webster University and Westminster College will be battling it out for the right to call themselves SLIAC Champions.

The Tournament
This year's tournament field features the same teams from each of the last four seasons and includes identical match-ups from last year's tournament. Host school and #1 seed Greenville will start the day against #4 seed Principia at 2 p.m. while #2 seed Webster and #3 seed Westminster will square off at 4 p.m. The SLIAC Championship game will be at 7 p.m. between the winners of the first two matches and can be heard live through Collegecasts HERE.

Tournament Tidbits

  • Greenville's Tom Ackerman recorded his 200th career coaching win earlier this season. 
  • This is the 12th time Greenville has made the tournament, holding a 6-10 all-time record.
  • Principia is making their 18th appearance in the tournament with an 11-20 all-time record.
  • Webster is the only program to make the SLIAC Tournament in all 19 years of competition, having won 10 times, and hold a 28-9 all-time record.
  • Westminster is making their 12th appearance at the tournament and has a 13-9 all-time record.
  • Greenville has now claimed at least a share of the league regular season title in each of the last four years. 
  • Webster has won the tournament a league record 10 times. Westminster has won twice while Greenville has one tournament title.
  • Webster and Greenville have squared off in the championship match in each of the last four seasons.
  • Principia is looking for their first SLIAC Championship. They have appeared in four championship matches, the last time coming in the 2008 season.
  • Westminster will be looking for their first title since the 1998 season, which was also the last time the Blue Jays advanced to the championship game.

#1 Greenville College Panthers
Greenville comes into the tournament with a 24-6 overall record and a 17-1 mark in the SLIAC. Their only conference loss this season was to Spalding on October 26th. The Panthers have won four of their last five outings, with their only loss coming to Buffalo State. Picked in the preseason by the SLIAC coaches to finish second, the Panthers have been almost unstoppable in conference play; sweeping their opponents in all but five matches this season. 

Greenville is tops in the league in hitting percentage at .275. Powering their way is senior Corinne Coon. Coon leads the team with 372 kills this season, averaging 3.84 per set, with a .278 hitting percentage. Coon has been consistent all year long, recording double-digit kills in all but five matches including a season high 21 kills at Rose-Hulman. Ellen Lueking has run the attack all year, averaging 9.87 assists per set and ranking second in the conference. The Panthers are strong at the net, ranking third in the league with 1.85 blocks per set.

#2 Webster University Gorloks
Webster finished the regular season with a 24-8 overall record and a 16-2 mark in the SLIAC. The Gorloks have the longest active winning streak entering the tournament, having won their final three matches. Their only conference losses this season were both match-ups against Greenville. Webster led the conference in kills and blocks per set this season, averaging 12.86 kills and 2.59 blocks per set.

Junior middle hitter Sam Kersting was the team's go to player, averaging 3.05 kills and 1.43 blocks per set. Kersting hit .347 on the season and was third in the conference in hitting percentage and first in blocks. Webster used a two setter system this year with Allie O'Toole averaging 5.68 assists and Ashley Fawcett averaging 4.42 assists. The SLIAC preseason favorites as voted on by the coaches, Webster will be looking to reach the SLIAC Championship match for 10th consecutive time.

#3 Westminster College Blue Jays
Westminster, picked fifth in the preseason poll, tied for third in the conference regular season with a 12-6 record while putting together a 17-11 overall record. The Blue Jays is led by first year head coach Curtis Madson and have won six of their last seven matches. They rank fourth in the conference in hitting percentage with a .205 clip and average 11.87 kills per set. The Blue Jays team features just two seniors with eight freshmen.

The youth movement is led by the duo of Riley Lawrence and Amanda Kiso. Lawrence ranks third in the conference at 3.56 kills per set, leading the team with 342 kills this season. Kiso averaged 2.07 kills per set and was second in the league at 1.04 blocks per set. One of two sophomores on the team, Lexi Collier, led the league in hitting percentage at .375 and averaged 2.57 kills per set. Kayla Reeg averaged 10.11 assist per set, tops in the conference.

#4 Principia College Panthers
Principia finished the regular season with a 20-10 overall record and a 12-6 conference record. It marked the first time since 2008 Principia had reached the 20 win mark. The Panthers have won their last two matches and six of their last seven. The Panthers strong defense leads to many long rally's as evident by their league high attack attempts during conference play. The Panthers led all SLIAC teams this season in digs with 23.06 per set. They also ranked first in kills with 12.31 per set and were second in hitting percentage at .217.

Tess Rountree has been a standout for Principia all season long, leading the team in kills, hitting percentage, digs and blocks. Rountree was tops in the conference with 4.74 kills and 5.5 digs per set. Rountree had 11 matches this season with 20 or more kills including a 39 kill performance against Westminster. Savanna Sprague, daughter of Head Coach Mary Ann Sprague, averaged 9.03 assists per set, which was good for third in the conference. Junior libero Summer Switzer was second on the team in digs with 5.39 per set and led the conference in service aces with 55.