GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel Tomcats earned the top seed in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Women's Volleyball Championship Tournament Saturday.
The Tomcats earned the top seed in the tournament after going 9-1 in conference play. Grove City (8-2) enters the tournament as the second seed. The top two seeds in the conference tournament receive quarterfinal byes.
Seeded No. 1 in the championship tournament for the first time in program history, Thiel is appearing in the conference tournament for the fourth time in the last five years. Thiel advanced to the tournament title match three times in program history (2009, 2010, 2012).
The six-team championship tournament, which begins Tuesday with a pair of quarterfinal matches, will determine the PAC champion. The tournament winner will receive the conference's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Division III Championship. The PAC is one of 44 conferences granted automatic qualification (Pool A) to the Division III Championship.
Thiel will host the winner of No. 4 Saint Vincent/No. 5 Chatham on Thursday at Maenpa Court at Beeghly Gymnasium. The semifinal match will begin at 7 p.m.
The title match will be played Saturday at the highest remaining seed following Thursday's semifinal round.
The Tomcats earned the No. 1 seed in the championship tournament by going 3-0 in the final week of the regular season. Thiel capped off the week with a 3-2 win over Allegheny Saturday evening.
Allegheny won the first two sets Saturday (25-23, 25-13). The Tomcats stormed back to win the match with wins in the final three sets (25-21, 27-25, 15-8).
Trailing by a point in the fifth set, the Tomcats rattled off seven straight kills – two apiece by
Maria Torres (Boardman, Ohio/Boardman),
Jordyn Liedike (Anchorage, Alaska/Grace Christian) and
Erica Gregory (Clinton Township, Mich./Fraser) – to take a commanding 11-5 lead.
Raquel McDonald (Syracuse, N.Y./Bishop Grimes) led the Tomcats with 16 kills, seven digs and four blocks. Torres tallied 17 digs, 14 kills and four blocks.
Gregory registered nine kills and nine digs while Liedike contributed eight kills and six blocks.
Kylee Eaton (Parker, Pa./AC Valley) had 12 digs and five kills while
Cassandra Bown (Broadalbin, N.Y./Broadalbin-Perth) had five kills and four blocks.
Danielle Aulet (Lawrence, Kansas/Mineral Ridge) led all players with 33 digs. The sophomore defensive specialist has recorded 736 digs in 2022, the most in program history in a season. She also went over the 1,000-dig plateau in her career on Saturday.
Brooke Talbot (Calcutta, Ohio/Beaver Local) notched 23 assists and seven digs while
Carlie Reynolds (Grove City, Pa./Grove City Area) contributed 18 assists and five digs.
Mya Storll (Linesville, Pa./Conneaut Area) had 10 assists and six digs.
Bown, Eaton, Liedike, McDonald and Storll were honored during senior day prior to Saturday's match.
India McCruter led Allegheny with 10 kills and nine blocks. Cheyenne Wilson recorded 25 digs and 10 kills.
*Portions contributed by the PAC
