Mount St. Joseph Earns Tenth Volleyball Tournament Title
November 9, 2008
CINCINNATI , OH - The College of Mount St. Joseph volleyball team knocked off Defiance College , 25-8, 25-21, 25-18, on Nov. 9 to claim its tenth Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament title. The top-seeded and tournament host Lions (28-10) will advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament by virtue of claiming the conference's automatic bid.
Against the Jackets, sophomore Jamie Grauvogel (Cleves , Ohio / Harrison ) led the way with 12 kills, 16 digs, and two block assists.
Junior Anna Richter (Fairfield , Ohio / Hamilton Badin) added 10 kills and 10 digs and senior Katie Playko (Norwalk , Ohio / St. Paul ) contributed 43 assists in the conference championship match.
Mount St. Joseph advanced to Sunday's championship match by defeating No. 5 seed Bluffton University in the semifinals, 3-0.
Grauvogel was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after a strong weekend performance. Joining her on the all-tournament team from the Lions was Caitlin Sargent (Covington , Ohio /H.S.) and Jess Gadberry (Reading , Ohio /H.S.) . The remaining members of the all-tournament team consisted of Defiance's Kristen Nicely (Defiance, Ohio/Ayersville) and Danyel Lipps (West Alexandria, Ohio/Twin Valley) , Manchester's Amanda Dickman (Batesville, Ind./Oldenburg Academy) , and Bluffton's Nicole Wood (Tiffin, Ohio/Hopewell Loudon) .
The Mount will take part in regional play on Nov. 13-15. The Lions will find out their site and opponent Monday morning when the NCAA releases their brackets. The finals will be held Nov. 20-22 at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington , Ill.