Mount Earns Top Seed and Right to Host Volleyball Tournament
November 6, 2008
CINCINNATI , OH - The 2008 HCAC volleyball tournament will be held this Saturday and Sunday, November 8-9 at the College of Mount St. Joseph. The Mount claimed their sixth straight conference championship and once again earned the right to host the automatic qualifier tournament.
The Lions finished the season 26-10 overall and 7-1 in conference play. MSJ's lone conference loss was a 3-0 defeat at Anderson on October 21. Mount and Defiance earned a first-round bye after earning the top two seeds in the tournament and will play separate semifinal matches at 7:00 PM Saturday evening.
Action will get underway with a pair of opening round matches at 2:00 PM from Cincinnati . Anderson (14-16, 6-2 HCAC) earned the No. 3 seed and will face No. 6 Manchester (17-14, 3-5 HCAC). The Ravens lost to the Spartans 3-2 at home way back on September 17. AU closed the season with two conference wins over top seed Mount St. Joseph and Rose-Hulman, while Manchester dropped their final two games to Transylvania and Defiance . The winner will advance on to play Defiance at 7:00 PM. The Jackets earned a 3-2 win over Anderson and a 3-0 blanking of Manchester during the regular season.
Bluffton (20-9, 5-3 HCAC), the No. 5 seed in the tourney, will take on No. 4 Hanover (12-18, 5-3 HCAC) in the second opening round game at 2:00 PM. Back on October 11, Hanover swept Bluffton 3-0 to begin a three game conference win streak. The Beavers enter the tournament riding a four match conference win streak after starting the conference season 1-3. Mount St. Joseph has the right to play the victor between the Beavers and Panthers Saturday night. The Lions swept both Hanover and Bluffton 3-0 during conference play this fall.
The Lions have won three straight conference games after dropping a 3-0 decision at Anderson and is currently ranked No. 6 in the Great Lakes Region. Defiance 's four game HCAC win streak was snapped on Tuesday evening as the Jackets were shut out 3-0 at Bluffton. Mount St. Joseph defeated Defiance 3-1 on October 4.
The championship match will be held on Sunday, November 9 at 1:00 PM. The tournament champion will earn the HCAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament that is slated to begin on Thursday, November 13.