EVANSVILLE, Ind.—University of Southern Indiana Volleyball opens the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship Tournament Friday at 8:30 p.m. when it takes on the No. 3-seeded Rockhurst University Hawks at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Illinois.
The Screaming Eagles are the No. 6 seed after finishing the 2021 regular season with a 17-12 overall record and an 11-7 mark in GLVC play.
Friday’s contest is a rematch of USI’s five-set loss to Rockhurst last month in Kansas City, Missouri. USI won the first and fourth sets, 25-23 and 26-24, respectively, but Rockhurst earned a two-point win in the second frame before grabbing three-point wins in both the third and fifth sets to pull out the win.
Junior middle hitter Taylor Litteken (Foristell, Missouri, had 17 kills and five blocks to lead the Eagles, who enter this weekend’s tournament as the defending champion after capturing the 2020-21 GLVC Tournament title last spring in East Peoria. Senior outside hitter Averi Vomastic had 13 kills and 19 digs to pace Rockhurst, which finished the regular-season 20-10 overall and 13-5 in GLVC play.
If USI gets by Rockhurst in the opening round, the Eagles will face the winner of the quarterfinal match between No. 2-seeded University of Missouri-St. Louis and No. 7-seeded University of Illinois Springfield Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The GLVC Championship match is Sunday at noon.
The Eagles, who are 6-5 against the GLVC Tournament field this year, went a combined 4-0 against Missouri-St. Louis and Illinois Springfield during the regular-season. Of USI’s five losses to teams in the GLVC Tournament field, three of the losses came in five sets while the other two losses were in four sets.
If the Eagles get to the NCAA II Tournament, they’ll likely have to do it via the league title and automatic qualifier as they slipped out of the latest NCAA II Midwest Region rankings. USI is looking to capture its fourth conference title since 2002 and back-to-back titles for the first time in program history.
Other first-round match-ups include top-seeded Lewis University taking on No. 8-seeded University of Indianapolis and No. 4-seeded Missouri University of Science & Technology playing No. 5-seeded Quincy University. The GLVC East Division saw four teams make it to the GLVC Tournament, while two teams from both the GLVC West and Central Divisions also qualified.
