CONWAY, Ark. - The Hendrix College volleyball team will be headed to the NCAA Division III Tournament after winning the Southern Athletic Association Tournament finals against Birmingham-Southern College at Grove Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon. The Warriors (30-5) claimed their first ever title with a 23-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-17 victory over the third-seeded Panthers (24-11).
With the win, Hendrix finished the season with a 17-0 mark at home. Head coah
Ryan Meek's squad, who received votes in last week's AVCA Top 25 Poll and ranked second in the South Region, will have to see where they are headed with the NCAA Tournament selection show at 10 a.m. Monday morning at
http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule.
BSC surprised Hendrix with a first set win. The Panthers hit .324, while the Warriors hit .265. The Orange & Black rebounded in the second set, taking advantage of 10 attack errors from their opponents. After a close third set, Hendrix closed the game with 19 kills and hit .444 in the deciding frame.
As a team, the Warriors hit .288 with 61 kills, six aces, 69 digs and 13 blocks - their second highest total of the season. The Panthers hit .169 with 51 kills, nine aces, 55 digs and six blocks.
Freshman right side hitter
Lauren Petrisin connected on 25 kills and hit .476 to earn tournament MVP honors for Hendrix. Freshman middle blocker
Sara Dyslin hit .435 with 13 kills, six blocks and seven digs and freshman outside
Bradi Ryan hit .364 with 10 kills and three blocks. Dyslin and Ryan were also named to the All-Tournament Team. Sophomore
MC Rogers had 10 kills and 13 digs with four blocks. Junior libero
Felicia Beeman led the defense with 21 digs and junior
Jill Sikes added 10. Sophomore setter
Allison Gaia recorded 27 assists and eight digs and sophomore setter Hoyln Duyck had 26 assists and three aces.
Samantha Stockdale and
Natalie Masten added three block assists each.
Lynsie Byrd had 13 kills and 11 digs for BSC. Laura Van Peursem had 11 kills and Katie O'Bar chipped in nine. Katie McCormack recorded 39 assists and four blocks. Lauren Bedford led the back row with 17 digs.
