Official Midwest Region Tournament Page
INDIANAPOLIS - Current and future members of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, Cedarville and Findlay, will meet on Thursday, Dec. 1, at noon EST for the NCAA Division II Volleyball Midwest Regional Quarterfinals.
No. 7 seeded Cedarville and No. 2 seeded Findlay will clash for the third time this season at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich., this year’s regional host site ocne again.
The Yellow Jackets have a record of 26-8, and the Oilers hold a 21-9 record. The NCAA Midwest Regional will feature video streaming (camera with no audio broadcast) with live stats.
Earlier this season, the two teams competed on September 20 at Cedarville with the Yellow Jackets taking a 3-1 victory. On November 8, Cedarville traveled to Findlay and evened the season series record with a four-set victory of its own in Croy Gymasium.
Leading up the Midwest Regional, Cedarville was the G-MAC Volleyball Champion for the fourth time in five seasons. The Yellow Jackets defeated Davis & Elkins in a five-set match (25-14, 31-33, 25-17, 22-25, 15-8) on a neutral floor in Mason, Ohio.
For the regional matchup, G-MAC Player of the Year Gabby Olson will be a key player at the net for the Yellow Jackets as she knocked down 360 kills this season and stopped 130 attacks from her opponents.
Not far behind Olson in the kills department was Abby Shelton with 356 kills. On the other end of things, libero Angela Becker has 525 digs and ranks second all-time in conference history with 2,214 digs.
As for Findlay, its key player at the net will be Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Attacker of the Year and D2CCA Midwest Region Player of the Year Hannah Tong. Tong logged 465 kills and a .301 hitting percentage for Findlay and is as dangerous of an offensive threat as it gets.
Leading up to Thursday’s regional matchup, Findlay took a 3-2 loss to Lake Erie in a GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinal (23-25, 25-17, 25-21, 21-25, 11-15). Despite a .223 hitting percentage compared to the Storm’s .206 and 70 digs to their 67 digs, Findlay could not advance.
The winner of Thursday’s duel between Cedarville and Findlay will advance to the semifinals against either No. 3 Lewis/No. 6 Ashland on Friday, Dec. 2 at 5 p.m. EST.
The winner of the Midwest Region will ultimately advance to the Elite 8 in Sioux Falls, S.D. on Thursday, Dec. 8.