Three GLIAC Women's Volleyball Teams Earn NCAA D-II Tournament Berths

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BAY CITY, Mich. -  The top three seeds from the 2010 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) volleyball tournament will all advance to the NCAA Division II Midwest Region Tournament to be hosted by top-seed Hillsdale College this weekend.

The Chargers were announced as the number one seed in the Midwest Region Sunday night, on the NCAA.com selection show. Hillsdale will face the University of Southern Indiana in the first round match on Friday, Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m. All matches in this year’s Midwest Regional Tournament will take place at Jesse Philips Arena.

Grand Valley State the No. 2 seed and GLIAC Tournament runner-up, will face the No. 7 seed, Northern Kentucky University in the quarterfinals. Northern Michigan University earned the region's No. 5 seed and will take on fourth-seeded University of Indianapolis in the first round.  The final tournament quarterfinal will feature two Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) teams when No. 3 Lewis University (Ill.) clashes with sixth-seeded University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Click here for the 2010 NCAA DII Women's Volleyball Championship Bracket

Ashland Eagles

The Eagles ended their season in the GLIAC Tournament quarterfinals with a 3-1 loss at No. 9 Hillsdale on Thursday. Freshman Kate Eckels (Loveland, Ohio/Mt. Notre Dame) had a team-high 15 kills in the match and junior Anesia Benton (Lima, Ohio/Senior) added 12. Junior Arian Martin (Independence, Ohio) had 22 digs in the match and had 20 or more digs in six of her last seven matches. She had double-digit dig totals in 26 of the 30 matches this season.

Ferris State Bulldogs

Ferris State made its 13th consecutive GLIAC Tournament appearance this season as the Bulldogs compiled a 1-1 record in the postseason tourney.  FSU posted a 3-1 win at Wayne State last Thursday (Nov. 11) in quarterfinal-match play and then dropped a 3-1 decision at nationally ninth-ranked Hillsdale in Saturday’s (Nov. 13) semifinal action.  The Bulldogs’ previous semifinal appearance occurred in 2006 (Nov. 3) with a 3-0 setback to Grand Valley State at Hillsdale, Mich. ...Senior middle hitter Arielle Goodson (Grand Rapids/Central) concluded her four-year (2007-10) career presently ranking third among Ferris State’s all-time leaders in block solos (108), ninth in total blocks (399), 12th in kills (1,212), 13th in attack percentage (.248), and 15th in block assists (291).  Goodson appeared in 116 career matches and participated in 431 sets... Junior outside hitter Ashley Huntey’s (Stanwood/Morley-Stanwood) team second-most 338-kills output this season in 28 outings represented a career season high, eclipsing her 229 kills in 31 contests for the 2009 campaign.  She also served up a career season-best and team-high tying 31 aces this fall, which surpassed her 30 service aces a season ago.

Grand Valley State Lakers

#13 Grand Valley State advanced to the GLIAC Championship match, falling in a five-set battle against #9 Hillsdale on Sunday. The Lakers reached the title match by defeating Northwood and #21 Northern Michigan by 3-1 scores. GVSU’s loss to Hillsdale snapped the Lakers’ 17-match win streak, the sixth-longest winning streak in program history…senior Rebeccah Rapin (Saginaw, Mich.) was named to the All-GLIAC First Team for the third straight season. Rapin is one of just two players in GVSU history to be a First Team All-GLIAC choice three times, joining Carly Miller, the Lakers’ all-time leader in kills. Rapin ranks first all-time in Grand Valley State history in block assists (416), second in total blocks (499), seventh in kills (1,310), and eighth in hitting percentage (.318) and total attacks (3,056)…senior Krysta Kornack (Warren, Mich.) earned her first all-conference award, joining Rapin on the All-GLIAC First Team. Kornack ranks third on the team in kills (246), hitting percentage (.235), and total blocks (73). Both Kornack and Rapin were named to the GLIAC All-Tournament Team.

Hillsdale Chargers

The Hillsdale College volleyball team won the GLIAC Tournament championship for the second year in a row Sunday afternoon, defeating Grand Valley State University 3-2 in a thrilling match…The Chargers are now 28-1 overall on the season and have won 27 straight matches…This marked the second year in a row Hillsdale has hosted the tournament…Junior middle hitter Clara Leutheuser was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament after recording 28 total blocks in the three matches of the tournament…Hillsdale will host the 2010 NCAA Midwest Regional tournament, by virtue of its number-one seed selection Sunday night…The Chargers will host the University of Southern Indiana at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the final first-round match of the day…The semifinals are scheduled for 4:30 and 7 p.m. Saturday, with the championship match set for 4 p.m. Sunday.

Northern Michigan Wildcats

For the third consecutive year the Northern Michigan University volleyball squad has advanced to the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Volleyball Tournament…NMU will play the University of Indianapolis Friday afternoon (Nov. 19)…The Wildcats and Greyhounds have played once this season at the GLVC/GLIAC Crossover Tournament as UIndy took the match in three straight (15-25, 22-25, 15-25) as at the time it was the ‘Cats first loss on the season…The ‘Cats advanced to the GLIAC Tournament semifinals with a three-set win over Tiffin (25-19, 25-15, 25-22) as Ana Lopes and Sami Vierk each had 12 kills…Emma Wolfe led the ‘Cats against Grand Valley State in the GLIAC semifinals with 17 kills while Lopes added 13…Lopes leads the team with 312 kills with Vierk second on the list (306)…Kristin Wetzel had a match-high 22 digs against Grand Valley State and currently has 306 on the season, Lopes leads the ‘Cats with 309 digs…Against the Dragons the ‘Cats recorded 13 service aces with Lopes leading the way with four as she has a team-high 49 for the season.

Northwood Timberwolves

NU saw its 2010 season come to an end with a 3-1 loss at Grand Valley State Thursday night … Northwood finishes its season 13-14 overall...  the Timberwolves came out strong, hitting .356 in the opening set … NU had 18 kills and just two errors on 45 attempts to go up 1-0 … both the second and third sets were close late, only to see the Lakers take both sets … the score was 16-15 GV in the second and third was tied at 20-20 before late GVSU runs allowed the Lakers to go up 2-1 … Grand Valley led 11-9 in the third when the Lakers went on a 5-0 run, putting the match away … senior outside hitters Jolyn Timms (Adrian, Mich.) and Sladjana Mitrovic (Lazarevac, Serbia/Sport Academy DIF) led the way for Northwood in their final career matches … Timms finished with a team-high 13 kills to go along with nine digs … Mitrovic had 11 kills and 16 digs … senior Lauren Chapman (Bascom, Ohio/Hopewell-Loudon) had 24 assists and 10 digs … three Timberwolves earned All-GLIAC honors Saturday – Mitrovic was named First Team, Timms was named Second Team while Tatjana Rajic (Belgrade, Serbia) claimed Honorable Mention honors.

Tiffin Dragons

The Dragons made a valiant comeback attempt in the third set, but they could not overcome the 21st-ranked Wildcats attack as Tiffin finished the season with a straight-set loss to Northern Michigan in the quarterfinals of the GLIAC Tournament... Jessica Adams led Tiffin with 24 assists, five kills and only one error on seven attempts (.571 hitting percentage) and four digs... Helping the Dragons complete one of the biggest turnarounds in all of D-II volleyball, senior Brittany Teaford and freshman Danielle McQuade were named to the Second Team All-GLIAC while junior libero Lindsay Heller was named to the honorable mention all-conference squad... Teaford anchored a Tiffin defense that finished sixth in the conference with 1.75 blocks per set. She led TU and was fifth in the GLIAC with 1.11 blocks per set (119 total blocks in 107 sets played). Teaford finished eighth in the conference with a .317 hitting percentage (220 kills and only 61 errors on 501 attempts). McQuade led TU with 319 kills on the season... Heller lead the Dragons and was second in the GLIAC with 532 digs. She led the team with 32 aces... TU completed the season with a 15-15 record and 11-8 mark in the GLIAC to claim the sixth seed in the league tournament.

Wayne State Warriors

The 2010 season came to an end for Wayne State in the quarterfinals of the GLIAC Tournament, as Ferris State ousted the Warriors from the postseason in a 3-1 result Thursday night... Wayne State, which qualified for the GLIAC Tournament for the third straight season under head coach Phil Nickel, defeated FSU for the first time since 1998 on Sept. 25, but the Bulldogs exacted revenge and became the only road team in the tournament to win Thursday.  First Team All-GLIAC selection Katarzyna Sak finished with 13 kills, seven blocks and a pair of service aces. She finished the season with 401 kills and became the first WSU player since Terina Howell in 1992 to finish with over 400 kills and a hitting percentage above .330... Cydney Biessel, a Second Team All-GLIAC honoree who eclipsed the 2,000-assist mark for her career, totaled 34 assists along with three kills and three digs...   Playing in the final match of their careers, GLIAC Honorable Mention selection Maureen MacDonald totaled 10 kills, five digs and a pair of blocks, and Katy Westenberg amassed seven digs.