(from midwestconference.org)
For the third consecutive season, the Midwest Conference Volleyball Tournament will be held in Mount Vernon, Iowa on the campus of regular season champion Cornell College.
Tournament Page
Challenging the Rams will be second-seeded St. Norbert College (15-13, 9-1), third-seeded Carroll University (11-17, 7-3) and fourth-seeded Lake Forest College (13-14, 7-3). Cornell is in the midst of a 30-match conference winning streak that has spanned to when they rejoined the Midwest Conference prior to the 2012 season and are aiming for a fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament will be awarded to the winner of this weekend's tournament.
Cornell has also won 13 consecutive matches dating back to Sept. 27. Libero Kylea Weber has been a force in the back row for the Rams and has earned the MWC Defensive Performer of the Week award four times. She has 2,400 career digs, which ranked in the top-five among active Division III players. Taylor Dicus has also been honored by the league for her defensive work and is averaging 1.12 blocks per set, which is 11th in the country.
Powering the offensive attack has been Mariah Brandly, Diamond Boyd, and Lauren Ahart all of whom have earned the MWC Offensive Performer Week honor at some point this season.
Meeting the Rams in the second semifinal on Friday is Lake Forest College. The Foresters won what was essentially a play-in match against Ripon College last Friday to earn the fourth and final spot. Cornell defeated the Foresters 3-0 back on Oct. 18.
Lake Forest is led by Brittany Avonts, who is the team-leader in kills (281), hitting percentage (.345) and blocks (68). Her .345 hitting percentage also leads the entire conference. Outside hitter Paige Jespersen also adds some thunder to the lineup with 242 kills.
The first semifinal on Friday afternoon will be a rematch of last Friday night's 3-1 victory by St. Norbert over Carroll. The Pioneers also defeated St. Norbert in non-conference play back on Aug. 29.
The Green Knights have been led by Heidi Spies and Breanne Brocker. Spies is the team leader in blocks (75) and kills (290) and is fourth in kills in the MWC. Brocker has killed 280 balls for seventh in the MWC and has added 352 digs. Aubree Antosch has dug out 506 balls, while Kaitlin Delahut has passed out 863 assists. Heading into this weekend, St. Norbert has won five straight matches.
Kelly Sloyan is Carroll's biggest offensive threat, while Katrina Zenz and Jenna Shea have led the defensive effort. Sloyan leads the team in kills (278) and her 1,061 attempts are 450 more than Zenz, who is second on the team with 611. The Pioneers' Tayor Kuehl heads into the weekend third in the league with 756 assists.
Zenz leads the team in blocks (53) and Shea has more than 500 digs on the season.
Carroll and St. Norbert square off on Friday at 4:30 p.m. with Cornell and Lake Forest following at 7:00 p.m. Saturday's tournament final will begin at 1:00 p.m.
