INDIANAPOLIS - The 2013 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Volleyball Championships began on Thursday in Owensboro, Kentucky, hosted by the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers, and continues tonight as the final four remaining teams do battle in the semifinals.
KWC, who earned the top overall seed in the tournament and advanced with a dominating sweep of Central State in the quarterfinals, will face the fifth seeded Trevecca Nazarene Trojans, who advanced to the semifinals with an upset win over #4 Ursuline in three sets.
In the early semifinal, #2 Cedarville will take on #3 Alderson Broaddus. The Lady Jackets advanced with a 3-0 win over #7 Davis & Elkins, while the Battlers needed four sets to get past #6 Ohio Valley.
SEMIFINAL ONE- #3 Alderson Broaddus vs. #2 Cedarville (5:00 p.m. Central)
Alderson Broaddus will take on Cedarville in the first semifinal on Friday. During the regular season, Cedarville managed to steal both matches. At the Volleyball Crossover event, CU managed a 3-0 win, but needed five sets on the road to secure the win over AB in the second meeting. In a strange season, the top three seeds all swept one another - with CU taking two from AB, AB winning both from top seed Kentucky Wesleyan, and KWC defeating Cedarville twice.
The Battlers are led by Victoria Morgan, who is second in the G-MAC with a .332 hitting percentage. She also ranks first in the conference in blocks with just under a block per game. Teammate Jillian Brown will be a factor in the service attack, ranking second in the conference in service aces per set.
The defending G-MAC champion Lady Jackets are led by G-MAC Player of the Year, Hannah Wagner, who averaged 2.78 kills per set and has a .305 hitting percentage to lead the way for Cedarville.
SEMIFINAL TWO - #5 Trevecca Nazarene vs. #1 Kentucky Wesleyan (7:30 p.m. Central)
Kentucky Wesleyan will take on Trevecca Nazarene in the second semifinal on Friday. During the regular season, KWC managed to take both meetings from TNU in straight-sets.
The Panthers are led by the duo of Dallas Zimmerman and Chelsea Brothers, who rank one and three in hitting percentage in the conference. Teammate Summer Alford also ranks second in the conference with just over three kills per set.
For Trevecca, Katelyn Atkinson, who was named the 2013 G-MAC Freshman of the Year, will lead the attack in the middle as she averages more than three kills per set to lead the conference as a freshman. TNU finished with a 6-8 conference record with five wins against the three lower seeds, but did manage a win against Alderson Broaddus, which caused AB to slip out of a potential three-way tie for first.
FINALS PREVIEW (Saturday, November 23 at 1:00 p.m. Central)
If Cedarville was to advance and face top seed Kentucky Wesleyan, it would set up a rematch of the regular-season finale that had the regular-season title on the line - won by KWC in five sets.
If Cedarville advances and faces Trevecca Nazarene, which would be a rematch of the 2012 G-MAC Volleyball final, the Lady Jackets would have the advantage after winning both matches by a combined score of 6-1.
If Alderson Broaddus can top Cedarville in the semifinals, things could get interesting. They would be a rare #3 seed favorite over the #1 seed on paper and would more than likely hope for that match-up over facing the #5 seed. AB defeated the top seed Panthers in both meeting this season, while TNU managed one win over the Battlers in two meetings this season.
Follow the action all weekend as the G-MAC provides live stats for all seven matches on G-MACsports.com (click the Live Streaming link). @GreatMidwestAC will be live tweeting throughout the weekend with pictures, updates and as always follow @G_MACscores to get all results from the weekend and all G-MAC contests.