Championship Central |
Tournament Bracket
EAST PEORIA, Ill. - In the final round of the 2016 Great Lakes Valley Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament, West No. 2 seed Truman State University beat East No. 2 seed McKendree University 3-0 (28-26, 25-17, 25-19) on Sunday, Nov. 20 at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Ill., to earn its second league title.
The first set began in favor of McKendree as it came out to an 8-4 lead, pushed it to 18-10 and then 21-16 before Truman came storming back for six-straight points to take control of a 22-21 advantage. The teams then traded points that led to a 26-all tie before the Bulldogs tallied the final two points of the set for the eventual 28-26 set-one win.
Set two was all Truman, as it scored the first two points to begin with and only allowed McKendree to tie it up twice at 9-9 and 10-10 before tallying the last four points for the 25-17 victory. McKendree was not going quietly, however, as it opened the third set after intermission with the first point, earning a five-point margin on two separate occasions, first at 7-4 and then 13-8. Unfortunately for the Bearcats, Truman was ready to take the trophy back to Kirksville because the Bulldogs scored nine points to secure a 21-15 edge. The Bearcats were only able to muster four more points as Truman notched its final four to win 25-19 and leave East Peoria as GLVC Champions.
Kayla Bastian notched a match-high 10 kills on .429 hitting and added 10 digs for the only double-double of the day, while Lauren Wacker collected a match-high 13 digs, and Savvy Hughes tallied a match-high 36 assists for Truman State. Bulldogs' Natalie Brimeyer also had a nice outing in the title tilt, hitting .467 with nine kills and as many blocks. McKendree's Arela Williams led her Bearcat squad with 14 kills, Morgan Melchert gleaned a team-high 12 digs and Aubry Dickmann tallied 16 assists.
With the victory, Truman has now won two tournament titles in its four years as a league member and earned the Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Tournament. The Bulldogs will learn their opponent tomorrow night when the Selection Show airs live on
NCAA.com at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
All seven matches of the GLVC Volleyball Championship Tournament can be replayed on the GLVC Sports Network by clicking the "On Demand" tab at
GLVCSN.com.